A Single Step
by tricksie
Summary: "You should come with me! It'll be great!" And with that, Naruto left with Sasuke, the one who never truly needed his help, and turned away from the teammate and village that did.
1. Leaving

**Chapter 1 - Leaving**

"Oh yeah? Well if that's the case Naruto, shouldn't you be the one leaving?"

Sasuke's hands were balled into fists. He thought about beating his teammate — his almost former teammate — into the the deserted Konoha road just to make his point. He was leaving. He'd made his decision. There was nothing Naruto could do to stop him.

And spouting praise of Konoha was only infuriating him more. Because he knew Naruto was a hypocrite.

Sasuke tightened his fist again, muscles surging with a deep desire to knock him off his feet. It was the middle of the night after all, no one would hear him…. But instead, Sasuke reined in his anger and settled for circling the blond.

"How can _you,_ of all people, try to talk me out of it? Look what they've done to you! Look how they've treated you!" Sasuke's voice rose dangerously as he paced. "How can you tell me to stay when this is the place where my family was slaughtered? And no one, not a single person, is out looking for the man responsible."

Sasuke glared at Naruto's rigid back. "I'll tell you why. They don't care. They only see me as something to hold on to. Tightly."

Naruto huffed out a breath and continued to stare straight ahead. He grit his teeth, holding in his next arsenal of persuasive reasons until Saskue was done. Then maybe he would listen calmly.

"And don't think I don't see it," the black-haired boy continued angrily. "When the council looks at me, the kages, even Danzo… It's written all over their faces. Disgust and fear and lust for power. It's all there."

Naruto still looked ahead, but when Saskue swung in front, he knew his words hit a nerve. Naruto knew _exactly _what he was talking about. There was doubt in his eyes, doubt about all the things he'd just said about Konoha. There was pain too. And Naruto was never good at hiding his pain. At least not to him.

Sasuke leaned in, his voice menacing. "You know what I mean, don't you? I know you do. You see it too. It's in their eyes."

Sasuke hovered inches from Naruto's face. Suddenly, as if to block it all out, Naruto crushed his eyes shut.

But Sasuke didn't move back. "It's the same for you," he whispered. "They locked a demon inside of you, and they hate you for it. Yet they want the power too."

Sasuke shook him hard by the shoulders. Startled, Naruto opened his eyes. But Sasuke didn't let go.

"I've seen the way they look at you. All of them. I hear what they say. You can't deny it. I know." He leveled a hard gaze at Naruto. "Because it's the same for me."

Naruto stared angrily back, meeting the unspoken challenge in Sasuke's eyes. At length, Sasuke let go and stepped back.

"They sure weren't thinking of you when they locked that _thing_ inside you." The familiar carelessness had returned to his voice. "But I think what you do with it is your own choice. And I sure as hell won't let them use me for my sharingan while _he_ walks free in the world."

Sasuke flicked a mean look at Naruto. Behind the solid black pupils the red sharingan flashed.

"And I won't let you stand in my way either." There was a dangerous edge to his voice.

Naruto frowned at the open threat. But it helped remind him of his purpose.

"I'm not standing in your way," he said fiercely. "I want to help you find Itachi. I just don't think you need to leave Konoha to do it. We're all working together, getting stronger. Just a little longer then we'll all help you go after him."

Sasuke snorted up at the stars.

"We'll do it together, because we're _a team_!" Naruto continued, palms open. "Me, you, Kakashi-sensei and Sakura-chan. Besides you couldn't just leave them, could you…."

"A babysitter and a dead weight? Please, Naruto, even you must—"

"No, I don't see!" Naruto snapped. "We're a team, we're in this together, and Kakashi knows what we need to do—"

"Yeah, I've figured that one out too," Sasuke said bitterly, cutting across Naruto. "Have you ever thought about it, the two of us, together, on _his_ team? It's not a coincidence that two orphans were put together under the most powerful teacher in the village. It's because they know how powerful _we're_ going to be. And they want to keep us contained."

Naruto shook his head furiously. But Sasuke continued, his voice picking up urgency. "The village, the leaders, Kakashi, Sakura, all of them are holding us back. Because…. Because…. _Because they're afraid of us!_"

Naruto looked stricken. He dropped his eyes to the ground and shifted uncomfortably. For Sasuke, there was a strange power in the thought that other's feared him. But for Naruto, it was shame. Only shame.

Sasuke seized upon on it.

"You know I'm right. Of course you would. _You_ understand. Because you're just like me—"

Sasuke's eyes went wide.

"_You're just like me_," he repeated slowly. "You have nothing here. Nothing holding you, nothing to stay for…."

Naruto blinked, confused. A smile crept up Sasuke's face with the dawning of an idea…a fantastic idea….

"You should come with me," Sasuke whispered excitedly. "It would be great. We could still be teammates. We could get stronger together. Then there would be nothing to stop us!"

Sasuke grinned, and a bewildered Naruto couldn't help but smile back. Not only at Sasuke's uncharacteristic happiness, but at what it meant.

To be asked, to be recognized, Naruto couldn't take it lightly. For this one moment, the demon, the thing that had caused so much harm in his life, was the thing that bonded him to Sasuke.

The prospect was so alluring. What adventures they would have, what things they'd learn….

Images flashed through his mind like a slideshow: the two of them training, the two of them fighting, the two of them becoming the most powerful shinobi's the world had ever known. Then they'd return to Konoha. Return as heroes….

Sasuke watched his blond teammate. His thoughts were plain on his face. He was considering it...

And the more Sasuke thought about it, the more he was certain of it. He couldn't say why he wanted Naruto to come so badly, but he just did. Maybe he didn't realize how terrified he was of being alone until he thought of having a partner. And what better partner than Naruto. They were the same in so many ways.

"So will you do it? Will you come? There's nothing to keep you here either."

Naruto's smile fell. He shook his head slowly.

"But Sakura-chan…. We're Team 7. _I_ couldn't— We couldn't just leave her behind…."

Sasuke smiled wider. He was sure of his choice now. The part of Naruto that worried over their teammate was the same part of Naruto that Sasuke knew he could always rely on. He was powerful and loyal. He was the perfect partner.

Whatever Naruto's doubts were, Sasuke knew he'd do anything to convince him to come. So he had to make Naruto feel better about leaving their team.

"She's not like us. She'll never know what it's like to have power. And to be hated for it." Naruto looked down, but Sasuke continued. "And she'll never be as strong as us. So having to look after her would only hold us back."

Naruto shoved his hands in his pockets. A deep frown revealed his inner conflict. Saskue knew he'd always had a soft spot for the girl. He had to think fast.

"Don't worry, she'll get put on a new team, and she'll be happy. They'll be more like her. And she'll do better. Grow faster. So really, it's good for her too."

But Naruto didn't look convinced.

"And you know she'd be in more danger by being with us. If she stays here, then she'll be safe." The corner of Sasuke's mouth hitched up in a sly smile. His eyes glittered. "Because after this, we'll be marked men. Who knows what we'll face. Who knows what ninjas we'll encounter. It will be amazing!"

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at the thought.

But he sobered and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. After a few moments thinking, he slowly nodded his agreement about Sakura. "Yeah, I guess you're right." But he was clearly reluctant about it.

"She's not like you and me." Sasuke said seriously. "I have to avenge my clan. I have to defeat Itachi. If you come with me, I _know_ I can do it. And… And you can grow stronger too. Then you'll be able to use the kyuubi's power however you want. No one else will ever control it."

Sasuke looked at Naruto with clear, earnest eyes. "And I'll be there to watch out for you," he said firmly. "I'll make sure no one ever hurts you again."

Naruto's chin crumpled. He was suddenly glad for the darkness. Somehow Sasuke had seen right through him. They were just the same. They had both been hurt. And deep down, underneath it all, they just never wanted to hurt again.

_Yes. Of course he would go._

Naruto smiled. His eyes shined with unshed tears. "I came here to convince you…but you've convinced me," he said quietly.

Sasuke smiled back broadly. Naruto thought it was the happiest he'd ever seen Sasuke. And it was because of him. _Them._ They were partners, best friends, setting out on the adventure of a lifetime.

"So, are you coming?"

"Yeah," Naruto said resolutely. "Yeah I am!"

Sasuke laughed. "Come on!"

Both took off, racing toward the gate and their freedom. They never once looked back.

* * *

><p>Sakura held her breath and listened hard. Head flopped back against the large tree, she closed her eyes. Silent tears slid down.<p>

There were no more sounds of voices or the shuffle of feet.

They were gone.

She was alone.

She cupped her hand to her mouth, trying to hold in the pain, but a soft sob still escaped.

Guessing Sasuke was going to run, Sakura had come looking for him. But she never imagined this….

Apparently Naruto had the same idea. Sakura was nearly at the corner when she heard their voices. First Sasuke's, loud and angry, then Naruto's quieter, calmer one. She had even smiled at the irony that they'd flipped roles. So she leaned back to wait. She'd let Naruto say his piece, and if he couldn't convince Sasuke to stay, then she'd step out and give him her support.

Instead, she heard _her_ name.

_A dead weight. _

She froze. Sasuke's true opinion was shattering. But Naruto….

Dependable, reliable, Naruto…. He'd stand up for them. He loved his team didn't he?

_Didn't he?_

She waited and listened, her heart banging against her chest like a caged bird.

But whatever Naruto felt was lost beneath Sasuke's bitter truths.

Whatever he felt for her and Kakashi, she was afraid it wouldn't be enough….

_A dead weight._ The thought cut her to the core.

Sakura didn't move. She didn't breathe. She leaned against the tree and listened. And when Sasuke told Naruto that he'd protect him, that they were the same, her first tears streaked down. Sasuke was offering the brotherhood that Naruto wanted so desperately.

So Sakura knew his answer even before he'd spoken. She knew Naruto was leaving. They were both leaving.

In the darkness, Sakura scrubbed a hand over her face and listened again, just to be absolutely certain... Nothing. The roads around her were quiet and empty.

Sakura slid to the base of the tree, bent up her shaky knees and sobbed into her hands.

They were gone. Her team was gone. _They didn't want her._

She didn't know what to do. So she sat in the cold grass and cried.

* * *

><p>Author's note: Another little story. Multi-chapter. AU-ish. NS. Yay! It will be a little different from A Voice in the Wind, in that it will be a more swiftly moving plot and a little lighter on the description. So, trying a different style for this one. But don't worry, there'll be some great scenes when the time is right! Some of the characters will be come off as OOC from time to time (Naruto more trusting of Sasuke; Sasuke more ready to help Naruto; and Sakura more distant as a result of their abandonment), but it will be within the context of the story. Anyway, hope you enjoy! Read and review!<p> 


	2. Lost

**Chapter 2 - Lost**

_He'd lost so much time already. But if she knew something else, then it was worth going back. Besides, he had to make sure she wasn't gone too…._

That decided it. Kakashi peeled off from the small recon group without a word and sped back to the village.

The boys had been gone three days. Their defection had been discovered quite early on — the night patrol had come across a weeping Sakura, and they pieced together enough of a story to have the first search team out by dawn. But the boys had made the most of their headstart.

Which told Kakashi that this had been planned.

But he wasn't worried until he made another troubling discovery: Sakura wasn't in any of the scattered search parties.

The kids' classmates showed up, wanting to tag along with the jonins for the search and rescue. Kakashi remembered thinking it was probably because they didn't want to be left out of the action rather than any strong feelings for the two.

Which made Sakura's absence even more notable.

He grimaced at his oversight. He'd just assumed she would be part of the crowd. But as he paired with search parties, relentlessly scanning for any trace, he realized Sakura wasn't among them. In fact, he didn't remember seeing her at all.

Iruka had been the one to break the terrible news. And from then on, everything was a blur.

Kakashi's mind had frantically leapt to the inevitable: She had fled too. Either chasing after them or as part of the plan. And he'd been too preoccupied to notice.

Kakashi pushed so hard off a limb it fragmented behind him.

_What if he was too late? What if she was already gone…._

He shook his head, banishing the thought. _No, not her. Never her…. _

But if even Naruto left, then he couldn't be sure of anything. _Oh please, not her too…._

Kakashi ducked his head into the wind and ticked up his speed. Around him, the vast countryside of the Fire country was reduced to a blur.

Hours later, Kakashi's feet touched down soundlessly outside a tidy Konoha door. He knocked hard, shattering the nighttime stillness.

"Oh, hello Hatake-san. Any news yet?"

Sakura's mother hovered in the doorway. Her round eyes brimmed with concern, but _not_ panic. Kakashi sighed inwardly.

"Uh, no. Not yet," he said politely. "Tell me, do you know where Sakura is? I'd like to have a word with her."

She smiled lightly, opened the door and ushered him in, then disappeared upstairs.

By the time Sakura came downstairs, nearly 10 long minutes later, Kakashi had inspected every knickknack in the small living room to keep himself from bounding up the stairs and ordering her to come down. He was just beginning to pace like a caged animal when she silently appeared in the doorway.

The young kunoichi looked defeated.

Sakura's eyes were bleary and red-rimmed. Pink splotches crept up her throat. She clutched her hands in front of her rumpled dress and bit her trembling lip.

"K-Kakashi-sens—"

She choked on the word, then burst into tears.

Kakashi instantly went to her and guided her to the sofa.

"Sakura, none of this was your fault," he reassured over her cries until she seemed calm. "But tell me, do you know where they went? Do you know anything at all about…."

Her crying began anew. Clearly she did know something. Kakashi just patted her hand and waited patiently for the tears to subside.

"They— They left together," she blurted out, wiping her nose. "I don't know where they went. They just...left."

"Naruto too?"

Sakura nodded pitifully before dissolving into more sobs.

Kakashi already knew this. Sakura had confirmed it to the patrol in the early hours of the morning. But seeing her crying at Naruto's name, Kakashi felt there must be more to the story.

He sat forward and looked her steadily in the eyes.

"Sakura," he said slowly, "tell me everything you know. Anything you can think of. What did they say in the days leading up to this? When was the last time you saw them?"

Cupping a hand over her mouth, Sakura shook her head. But fresh tears came anyway.

She wept bitterly.

Kakashi stifled a sigh. He sat back, deciding to just let her cry.

And eventually she was wrung out enough to speak.

"I saw them. I heard them talking." Her voice dropped to a whispered, as if confessing something dreadful. She looked down at her lap. "They wanted to go. Sasuke wanted Naruto to go with him. And then Naruto wanted to go too. So they— they just left." A dry sob suddenly escaped.

"I see…. Were they forced?" He sat forward suddenly. "Were they under any duress?"

Sakura shook her head. Her mouth crumpled, but she held back her tears.

"No. They were excited. Sasuke said it would be an adventure. They'd do it together."

Kakashi slumped back against the couch and blew out a long, low breath. Sakura didn't need to explain any further. He understood their dynamic completely. Naruto would never have said no.

Now he felt as defeated as Sakura did.

At the edge of the sofa, Sakura sat with her head bowed. She looked down and picked at her nails. A tear pattered onto her hand.

"I understand," Kakashi said softly, sitting forward again. "Did Sasuke say where they were going? Who—"

Sakura shook her head.

"And Naruto…."

Her shoulders jerked with a quiet sob.

Kakashi frowned. _What was it about Naruto—_

"Sasuke said the village had failed them. Both of them. That they were the same. He said— He said—" She scrubbed a hand over her face and spoke through her tears. "He said you were a babysitter and I was a dead weight. And Naruto…. Naruto didn't say _anything_. Sasuke said they'd always be there for each other, and then they were…they were…gone," she said with a breathy cry.

Kakashi raked a hand through his hair. This was the burden that was weighing on Sakura. He couldn't blame her for being upset.

But confessing it finally gave Sakura the courage to carry on. The words all tumbled out in a teary rush.

"I don't understand, Kakashi-sensei. I thought maybe Sasuke would try to go after Itachi, that he might leave. But not Naruto. _Never_ Naruto." She sucked in a breath. "I think maybe Naruto went to stop him. Like I was going to. But instead, Sasuke asked him to come. And then, he left!" She threw her hands up. "He didn't want our team or our village…. He didn't want you or me…. He just _left_!"

Kakashi looked at the floor. He had no answers for her. But he understood. Naruto's defection felt like a betrayal, whereas Sasuke's somehow...didn't. It was probably because of all the kids, Naruto seemed the most loyal to the village.

But maybe that loyalty was the problem.

Kakashi stood up suddenly. He'd gotten what he came for. Sakura was safe. And he had a clearer picture of what happened. Unfortunately, the new information made retrieval that much harder.

But he was wasting precious time. Kakashi shut off his swirling thoughts and plastered on a calm facade.

"Don't worry, we'll bring them home." He patted her shoulder roughly. "It'll turn out ok. You'll see!"

Kakashi shot her a quick, overly bright smile — one she didn't return — and then was out the door.

But outside, the smile evaporated.

Kakashi's thoughts raced as pounded over the village and out across the forest.

Both boys were immature. Powerful, but immature. And if they were dead-set on leaving the village, both of their own choice, then finding them would be nearly impossible.

Revenge, power, adventure, friendship…they were all strong motivators. Sasuke was driven by revenge. Naruto by loyalty.

Sasuke wanted to find Itachi. But Naruto? He was still coming to grips with hard truth of his power, the Kyuubi.

And Kakashi couldn't answer his questions: He was forbidden to. The elders had decided that _they_ would formally instruct him after the chunnin exams. Kakashi suspected Danzo was pulling some strings, hoping to fold Naruto into ROOT. Then the boy really would become a weapon.

Kakashi had hoped for enough time to form a cohesive team, to get them bonded. Then no matter what happened, no one could harm them. They'd always have each other to rely on.

But now it was all over.

Kakashi swore viciously and pushed off a branch, leaping in a blur through the trees.

If Naruto left with Sasuke, of his own accord, then Danzo would surely have his way. They'd keep Naruto under lock and key after this. And for Sasuke, the sympathy since the massacre would dry up. The old distrust of the Uchiha would be resurrected.

They were the same, Sasuke got that right. Life had never been easy for either of them. But this stupid choice just made life a lot harder.

Kakashi barreled toward the last jonin check-point. He hoped and feared for any news.

But whatever the outcome, over the long trek out he'd concocted a last-ditch plan to protect them: He'd take the blame. Kakashi decided he'd weave some story about the boys listening to too many embellished stories from his youth. They took them for truth and set out to have their own similar adventures. At least then the anger would be directed at him.

But upon reaching the rendezvous point, those wildly ridiculous plans were torn through.

Kakashi landed on a branch. The handful of men standing around went quiet. A few even looked away.

For a heart-stopping moment Kakashi thought one of the boys had been killed. But then he saw Genma. The jonin glanced significantly up the branch towards the enormous tree trunk. Whatever had happened, it was there.

Kakashi walked slowly up the branch, passing a few more men. He frowned suddenly. All of reconnaissance team was assembled.

_If they were all here, then who was searching? Why wasn't anyone looking—_

Iruka stood at the end of the branch, next to the old tree. Hand propped on the trunk, he stared out into the dark woods in unsettling preoccupation. Searching….

A knot formed in Kakashi's gut.

At the sound of approaching footsteps Iruka turned slowly. The boys' former teacher gave a long, mournful look at their current sensei. Then he stepped back.

Kakashi's blood went cold.

Two shinobi headbands were staked to the tree with a kunai. The black ribbons fluttered, and the silver plates still shined like new. They practically were. Except now there was a jagged line through each one, cutting across the Leaf insignia like a wound.

Kakashi shook his head slowly. Iruka looked away.

With that one cut, the boys had renounced their allegiance to the Konoha. They'd left the headbands at this far check point as a message to anyone foolish enough to look for them.

Now he understood why everyone had stopped searching: It was over.

The boys were nukenins.

They may as well be dead.

* * *

><p>Sakura stood at her window and stared at the dark lines of the village. She had never felt so empty.<p>

They were gone. They had been for weeks and weeks. It was a nightmare she wasn't going to wake up from.

Kakashi had dropped by with some words of encouragement. They were close, don't give up hope, and other things she knew weren't true.

But Ino had already let the truth slip out.

Her blue eyes were big, and she covered her hand with her mouth apologetically. But Sakura wouldn't let the slip go until she knew the whole story.

Now she thought if she could do it again she would just smile at Ino and say "It's nothing. More tea?"

Not beg her to tell. Not promise that whatever it was, it couldn't hurt her. That she was prepared for the worst. That she'd be grateful just to know something…anything….

"Two headbands were found," Ino said haltingly. "They were new…. No sign of fighting. I mean, no blood or anything…but…."

Sakura went numb. There were no words. And the tears wouldn't come. So she sat still. Very still.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I should never have said anything…." Ino squeezed her cold hands.

"It's ok." Sakura smiled wanly. "It's ok."

But they both knew it wasn't.

Sakura could see the line in her academy book. Bolded to emphasize the point. It was a lesson all academy students learned. Even Naruto and Sasuke.

_A shinobi only parts with their headband if they've died or defected._

The message was clear: If you defect, then you'll wish you were dead.

Ino worriedly clasped her hands. But there was nothing more to say. The silence in the room grew painful. Soon after, Ino hugged her friend and left.

After that, the few friends who dropped by crept around the topic of her teammates like the two had died. More than once, her classmates even offered sympathies.

Kakashi was hopeful, but Sakura knew the truth. No matter what he said, she could see in his haggard expression that he no longer believe his own words.

Sakura gave in to the hopelessness of it all. She asked her mother to tell everyone else that she was sick. Her friends caring words only made her feel worse.

How could they understand. They thought she was heartbroken – and she was— but it was more than that.

She had cried until she couldn't cry anymore. She cried for them…. And she cried for herself.

When they left, they took her world with them.

She didn't join the search. Why should she? She knew what they thought about her. Maybe someone else could convince them to return. But it wouldn't be her.

She didn't respond to the general call for mission assignments. Why would she get a mission? She didn't have a team, and there were no vacancies on the other teams. Now, she really was a dead weight.

She didn't go out anymore. Not even to the market with her mother. The simple chores of her life before just seemed too painful.

So she hid out at home. And their words haunted her like a ghost.

If she were a better shinobi, she would have reported them immediately. Not cried for hours more, then trudged home, ashamed that their words must be true.

If she were a better shinobi, she would have searched for them. Maybe even led the others.

If she were a better shinobi, she would have faced this uncertain future with bravery and resilience.

If she were a better shinobi…. Then maybe they would have stayed….

Sakura puffed out a breath. It momentarily fogged her bedroom window. Some nights she watched the village rooflines for so long she thought she saw silhouettes. But it was fantasy. They were gone. Forever. And Sakura didn't know how to go on.

So she stared out into the darkness, letting the tears streak in twin silver lines down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Weeks rolled into months. The seasons changed around Sakura, passing her by. And she accepted that she'd been left behind. She stayed at home, only occasionally running quick errands for her mother. She ignored the calls for missions and turned her back on the shinobi world.<p>

Only the official summons from Tsunade, threatening a court martial, drove her out one bitterly cold winter day.

Which she supposed was good. There was no one to see her. No one to frown and tell her how very sorry they were, then shake their heads in pity as she passed. She could always feel the whispers in her wake. She had grown to hate it.

The steel grey sky was threatening, and the freezing wind clawed at her face, but she was left alone. She was grateful for that, at least.

If she had been spotted trudging to or from the Hokage's tower, then the whispers would no longer carry sympathy. They would say that she was in trouble. That she must have finally been kicked out of the shinobi corp. That she really was a dead weight after all….

The wind stung her eyes. Sakura ducked her face down into her scarf and kept going.

But inside the warm office, Tsunade's face held no trace of sympathy. Or patience.

"This is shameful. You know that?" She slapped a file labeled "Team 7" on the desk. "You are a shinobi of Konoha. And that means something no matter what happens to your team."

Sakura didn't move. Hands at her sides, she stared impassively over the Hokage's shoulder, out the window at the colorless expanse of Konoha.

"Do you think you're the only one in pain?" Tsunade said icily. "Do you think you're the only one to lose teammates? No."

Kakashi slipped in the back of the room, letting the door glide shut behind him. Tsunade spared him a quick glance then resumed her tirade.

"Most of us lose teammates because they die beside you or in your place…or _right beneath your hands._" Her voice shook with earnestness. "But it's the living who have it harder. We are left to bring their bodies home. We are the ones who have to go on."

Sakura blinked once. She knew she should feel ashamed, sad, inspired…something. But she didn't. Her shoulders rose and fell with a slow breath, but that was it. Her face was still an impassive mask. And inside she was still numb. She felt as frozen as the world beyond the window.

"You're not allowed to just curl up and die because your idiot teammates ran away," Tsunade said scathingly. But it didn't faze the girl.

Tsunade scooped a few other team files, nearly crushing them in her fist she was so angry.

"I'm finished entertaining this, Kakashi." She spread out the folders on her desk. Each was labeled for various teams. "I have given her more time to come around because it was so unique. But now I can see it is pointless."

Kakashi shifted, sighed audibly, but said nothing.

"Sakura Haruno, you will be assigned to a new team. And with this behavior, I'm seriously considering slapping you back on a fresh genin team…."

Tsunade shot a challenging look at Kakashi. He tipped his head and frowned slightly, silently pleading for the girl. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"But right now, you still have the right to speak." She waved a manicured hand over the folders fanned out in front of her. "So tell me, is there any team that you have a preference for?"

She finally looked at Sakura, completely expecting more mulish stubbornness. But a small frown had cracked that blank facade. Tsunade raised an eyebrow.

"There are plenty of teams that would be happy to have you in a support capacity." The more she spoke, the more Sakura's frown deepened. "And I can speak to their sensei, to see if they would accept you. Of course, you would only be called as needed, or if one of their squad died, but you would be expected to train and maintain your shinobi standing with them as well as—"

Tsunade stopped. Sakura was glaring at her, looking downright angry. Even her cheeks were growing pink.

"Is, uh…. Is there a problem Sakura?"

"I have a team. I do not want another," she said, her voice growing stronger. "I am on Team 7, and I have no desire to transfer."

As if to emphasize her point, Sakura plopped her hands on her hips. She shifted her feet into a wider stance. Without realizing it, she moved into a battle position. She was ready for a fight.

Tsunade face went slack with frustrated disbelief. And to add to her mounting frustration, over the girl's shoulder, at the back of the room, Kakashi's face broke into an enormous grin.

"They left. I did not," Sakura said, sounding more sure of herself with every word. "They made their choice, free and clear. You asked my mine? Well this is it. I have no desire to leave Team 7."

Tsunade rubbed a hand over her eyes.

"Yes, but you cannot have a team of one."

Across the room Kakashi delicately cleared his throat.

"Or two," she grumbled, glaring over her fingers at him.

But Tsunade understood why Kakashi had shielded her. This was different than the normal dissolution of a team. Sakura's grief was different. Her teammates hadn't died…they had abandoned her.

Tsunade sympathized. She knew how it felt to be so wrapped in grief you could barely move. She knew it too well….

She stamped out the intruding memories. Her medic instinct recognized the best course of action for the girl: That anger would pull her out of this slump.

"Fine," she snapped. "Stay in Team 7. But don't expect it to be easy."

Tsunade pushed back the folders to find the one labeled "Team 7." She opened it, flicking her gaze to the girl. There was a ghost of a smile on her face now.

Kakashi had stepped forward in solidarity. He stood beside Sakura and nodded his approval and willingness to participate. Tsunade shrugged, then began writing out her new orders.

"Sakura Haruno of Team 7, because of your unique situation, you will serve at the pleasure of the Hokage. I will assign you to assist teams and support missions as I see fit. I will require you to train in stealth to carry out classified solo missions when the need arises."

She stopped and looked over the girl's profile. "You are skilled in chakra skill…."

"Her talent is second to none," Kakashi interjected. "In fact, if you were to test her I think you would also find—"

Tsunade waved a hand. "I see where you're going with this, Kakashi. Perhaps medic nin training is in her future. She certainly has the make-up for it. But only time will tell…."

After amending the file and receiving new orders, they were dismissed.

Outside the Hokage's tower, Sakura felt like she'd stepped out of a whirlwind. She blinked up at the sky. Quiet sunlight was just breaking through the cloud cover.

Kakashi patted her shoulder hard.

"Good job. You proved yourself in there today. You don't give up. You're a true Konoha shinobi."

Sakura gave a weak smile. But for the first time in a long time, it didn't feel like Kakashi was lying.

"I don't really…. I…." She stopped. She didn't know how she felt.

Kakashi beamed. "Remember what I've always said, 'A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step!'"

She frowned in question, not really remembering him ever saying that. But Kakashi nodded sagely and tapped the dog-eared book in his back pocket.

Sakura just rolled her eyes. Now she _knew_ he was lying!

He grinned broadly at his little joke. He told everyone else the book-shaped bulge in his back pocket was the Tao Te Ching. But she knew the truth. And all because they were on the same team. Kakashi preferred trashy romances to Lao Tzu, any day of the week.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Sakura's mouth. She wasn't happy, not truly. But she felt better. And each brush with these familiar things — not just the stupid jokes, but being part of something larger than herself — pulled her slowly out of that grief-stricken limbo.

It felt like she'd taken a step. She didn't know where it would take her. But it was a step. That was something, at least.

"Well, you and I are going to have a lot of work to do! We better get you back into regular training. Meet you tomorrow at the training field at dawn?"

Kakashi was already sauntering off without waiting for an answer. Sakura watched his back, slow questions raising in her mind. Things she'd not cared about for months now, since before _they_ left—

Kakashi stopped suddenly. "Actually, better make it 10." He flashed back a knowing grin.

Sakura understood. His secret was out. Now that it was just them, he didn't need to keep her waiting. A smile broke across Sakura's face. She couldn't have stopped it if she tried. And it felt good. It was her first real smile in a long, long time.

She turned for home, feeling the warm sun on her shoulders in spite of the winter chill.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Thanks for all the kind reviews! It's a definitely a change of pace from "A Voice in the Wind." I'm trying a less-descriptive, faster-paced style, and I'm working hard to make sure the characters feel unique to their own story. So it's a challenge for me as a writer. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. There are a few tweaks to the storyline: Naruto knows about the kyuubi, and there is some tension within the village on the course of Naruto's future. It will spell trouble for him when he eventually returns. But other than that, most things are still canon. So, read and review. And don't worry, a new chapter for "A Voice in the Wind" will be up soon!


	3. Into the Dark

**Chapter 3 - Into the Dark**

_Author's note: Minor timeline change for believability — In this fanfic, Naruto never left to find Tsunade with Jiraiya. So his only experience with Orochimaru and Kabuto is what he witnessed at around the chunin exams. Jiraiya retrieved Tsunade and she is in the village, but Naruto was not there to help fight against Oro/Kabuto. Keeping that in this story would have solidified Naruto's distrust/hatred too much. But all other events are the same._

The steep stone pathway was invisible behind the natural rock outcrops of the vast forest. But at the right angle, beneath a curtain of dripping vines, a shaft opened up. Black and foreboding, it lay there like a hidden snake, mouth open, waiting to devour anyone unlucky enough to fall in.

Sasuke held the vines back. Naruto stopped, nervous. One glance told him that Sasuke wasn't certain about this either.

"We don't have to—"

Sasuke shook his head. "We can't go back. That's why we left the headbands."

Naruto frowned. _He'd told him not too._

"Come on," Sasuke urged, nodding toward the darkness.

But Naruto didn't budge. "We should check it out first," he said, eyeing the wet pavers that melted into the black. "Sorta looks like it could be a trap—"

"It's not a trap! I'm sure of it," Sasuke snapped. Naruto still didn't move. "Fine. I'll go first."

But Sasuke hesitated at the opening, showing just how unsure he truly was. Then he stepped forward into the dark.

There nothing left for Naruto to do but follow him. He took a breath and ducked under the vines. Dew pattered down on his head and shoulders. Then the shroud of foliage swung closed, erasing their presence from the quiet forest completely.

They walked down, down, blinking into the nothingness. Only the drip of water and the steep angle of the stones was constant. All else was gone in the musty blackness. Even their sense of time. It felt they'd been in darkness for hours when they finally saw a brown haze of light several long minutes later.

They slowed, eyes adjusting to the light as they got closer. The arcing pattern of the pavers emerged around them, wrapping over their heads. Ahead the tunnel flattened out. A slant of yellow light shone from beyond a corner.

They softened their footsteps and eased the kunai from their holsters. A passing shadow dimmed the light. Murky voices drifted up. Sasuke and Naruto edged to the wall and crept slowly toward the landing and the light.

"Stay back," Sasuke mouthed when they were nearly there. Naruto nodded.

They held their position against the wall for a few seconds more, watching the light on the damp floor and listening. Barely breathing.

Finally Sasuke detached from the shadow, flipped his kunai into reverse grip and stepped around into the light. His white shirt glared in the darkness. In two more steps he was gone.

Naruto's heart banged against his chest. He gripped and regripped his blade, hands getting sweaty.

_What if this was wrong. All wrong. What if it was a trap, and now they'd been separated—_

In spite of his fears, he edged closer to the corner wishing he could see what was happening.

The light slanted dangerously close his feet. He shifted the kunai slowly to his other hand. A scrap of light reflected in the blade caught his eye.

Ridiculously, an illustration in a comic book sprang to his mind.

Naruto would have laughed if the situation wasn't so grim. That he'd remember a trick from one of his childhood ninja comic books now of all times. The books were cheap and the ninja heros were all in black and terribly boring. But he remembered clearly the panel with an inked eye reflected back on the hero's shining blade.

Naruto bit his lip and held the kunai out in front of him. Slowly, slowly, he tilted it, edging the tip out into the hall, always watching the reflection.

It worked!

He could see perfectly the scene unfolding around the corner.

There were two men: Orochimaru from the forest, and another man with white hair. He looked familiar, but Naruto couldn't place him.

Sasuke was slowly approaching.

Orochimaru was sitting…maybe reclined. In the sliver of blade Naruto could see bandages around an arm.

The white-haired man set a heavy tray down beside him and began unloading it. He put a glass in front of Orochimaru.

Sasuke's shoulders hitched once in a silent laugh. Naruto guessed what he was thinking: It wasn't a trap at all. They'd caught the men unawares, about to have tea.

The white-haired man stepped back, holding the empty tray to his chest.

Sasuke stiffened. Naruto's eyes went wide.

There were four glasses on the table.

The white-haired man looked down the long hall, right to where Naruto was standing. In shock Naruto almost threw the blade in the air. The man stared directly into the blade reflection, pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled.

_Kabuto, the guy from the chunin exam_, Naruto realized with a cautious exhale. He must have been allied with Orochimaru even then.

Kabuto shifted his eyes back to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm so glad you've come." Orochimaru opened his hand to the drinks. "We've anticipated you and prepared a little celebratory drink. Won't you join us?"

Sasuke took a few more steps into the light, then stopped. Naruto knew he was sizing up the room, their opponents. Er, allies, he corrected himself. _He didn't like the way that sounded._

Orochimaru smiled complacently, as if nothing would make him happier than to wait on Sasuke.

At length, Sasuke was satisfied with the inspection. "I am not alone," he declared.

"Yes we did detect another chakra passing through our defenses," Orochimaru said patiently.

Sasuke nodded once. "Good. Then know this, if I accept your offering of training, it's on the condition that you train him as well. It's the only way I'll do it."

Orochimaru frowned. Kabuto tipped his head.

"Him?" He looked at Kabuto, who shrugged. "We thought for sure you had brought the girl…." Orochimaru shook his head, the smile slipping back into place. "But no matter. So who is this mystery person we are required to take on?"

Orochimaru still smiled, but to Naruto his expression was tight. As if he didn't like not knowing at all.

Sasuke turned and looked back down the hallway. Three sets of eyes were reflected in the blade. Naruto's mouth went dry. He slipped the kunai back into his holster and repeated "For Sasuke. For Sasuke," as if he might forget. Then he pushed away from the wall and turned the corner.

Slowly stepping into the angled light were black shinobi shoes, an orange training jacket, then fair cheeks with undeniable whisker lines….

Naruto came fully into the light, then stopped. Somehow his bright outfit and hair seemed even brighter now. Which only made him feel more out of place.

"Well, well…." Orochimaru grinned toothily. "Sasuke-kun you _are_ full of surprises." He looked Naruto up and down, breathing deeply as if someone had set a delicious dish before him.

Naruto scowled. He balled his fists at his sides. The light danced in his eyes. Sasuke recognized the defiant look and jerked his head for Naruto to come on.

"I am honored," Orochimaru continued unfazed. "Konoha's finest. I hope I'm up to the task. But then again, there is no one else who can guarantee to make you the strongest."

Naruto didn't move.

"Ah, but don't worry Naruto-kun, all changes take adjustment. Why don't you come have a drink with us. I've already spoken to Sasuke about what we can offer him. But I had not thought…that is to say…you are endowed with the kyuubi." A gleam lit his dark eyes. "A unique responsibility with unique powers. But perhaps you seek a little more training in how to best harness it."

Naruto blinked. Orochimaru's lips curled into his first genuine smile. He didn't miss the boy's subtle movement. He had hit upon something the boy wanted.

"I'm glad you've come," Orochimaru said warmly. "I can help you, and I can explain a lot of what and why and how it was placed in you. Questions I'm sure you must have wondered yourself, but may not have always been given the answers…."

Naruto breathed once. Orochimaru nodded encouragingly, to both of them. "Then come! Drink! We have much to talk about!"

Naruto warily approached. He and Sasuke walked down the rest of hall together. They came closer, but still kept a safe distance from the men.

Kabuto poured four drinks, placed two back on the tray and walked them over. Sasuke took his immediately, but when Kabuto turned and said "Naruto-kun" with a sickening familiarity, Naruto recoiled. He bet it was poison.

Sasuke glanced meaningfully at the tea, but Naruto didn't pick it up. Instead he looked down at it, thoughts swirling like the brown liquid.

He could barely stomach any of this. _What had Sasuke gotten them into. This man must have been a spy. And the other one was just evil, the snake man who had killed their Kage. He was an enemy of Konoha. Hell, they both were if they were together. And now he was supposed to share a drink with them?!_

"Naruto, you look like something is troubling you." Orochimaru looked around Kabuto. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about? Anything you'd like to ask? There must be something—"

"You killed our Kage," Naruto ground out, waving Kabuto and his tray away. "Your own sensei. And you expect me to just sit here?"

Sasuke shot him an angry look, silently telling him to keep his mouth shut. But Orochimaru looked at him as serenely as if he were a child.

"Ah, my dear, dear sensei. How I wish things could have ended differently." He rubbed his arm, and looked across the room as if deep in distant, misty thought. Yet when his black eyes drifted back to Naruto they were crisp and clear. "But sometimes when you start on a course, you cannot change it. No matter how much you want to." He smoothed his uninjured hand down his long black hair. "Do you know how that feels? Being a little in over your head?"

Naruto looked away from the man's suddenly piercing gaze.

"I may not have intended to fight Sarutobi-sensei, but after it started, there was no way out. I had to see it through. I knew he wasn't going to hold back, so I couldn't hold back. I knew he was going to kill me, if he could. Because he was afraid of the discoveries we made. I was growing too strong, and I was a threat. I had hoped to just injure him, enough to get away." He turned his head as if overcome. "We must all live with our choices, must we not?"

Naruto looked up then, trying to read him. But when Orochimaru looked back, any trace of emotion had been twisted back into sympathy for them.

"I can only imagine what it must have looked like from within Konoha's walls," he simpered. "You forget that I am a Konoha shinobi too. I grew up there, went to academy, passed the same tests and endured the same hardships. My closest friends were Jiraiya and Tsunade growing up."

Orochimaru tipped his head, earrings glittering from under the black sheet of hair, and flashed them a perfectly understanding smile.

"So you see, I too know the bond of partners. Teammates as only those in Konoha can know. It is inseparable. And your bond to each other is to be honored. No I wouldn't dare sever it or separate you."

Kabuto tried again with the tray, and this time Naruto took the tea. It was sweet and pleasant, not containing a bitter poison as he'd expected.

"I am honored that you both have come to me to continue your training."

He bowed his head solemnly to the two boys. Watching him over the edge of his glass, Naruto didn't buy it for a second.

"Here you both will achieve powers that you never would have been able to attain in Konoha. I guarantee it. Kabuto?"

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama?"

"Please show the boys to their quarters."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," he bowed dutifully.

They followed the Kabuto silently down another corridor, past more hallways and flickering torches till they were completely disoriented in the underground maze.

Was it really this big? Or was he just doing it on purpose? Naruto didn't know. But eventually they came to a hall lit with one torch and doors on either side.

Kabuto produced a key and unlocked the two doors directly across from each other. The dank rooms contained no furnishings save for two uncomfortable-looking ledges on each side. Naruto sniffed at the room closest to him. It was musty and stale. These were no better than prison cells.

Naruto didn't like the thought of that. Not here. With _them_.

He looked over at Sasuke. One glance told him he felt the same.

"We'll both stay in this one," Sasuke said firmly.

Kabuto did not say a word. He merely locked the other door, lifted the torch from the hall and lit the single torch in the room. Pallets were rolled at the far end of each ledge, half hidden in the darkness.

"Try to get some rest. I will send some food and supplies down. Training will start tomorrow."

Kabuto swept out before anything else could be said. The heavy clack of the door lock sounded, then he was gone.

The boys rolled out their pallets and laid back, both processing the events of the last few days. Neither one wanted to give voice to their fears. The room was silent except for a soft patter of water somewhere — it seemed to be everywhere down here — and though neither admitted to being tired, they soon dropped off to sleep. It was the deep sleep of someone who had stayed up on adrenaline two days straight.

Eventually someone did bring food in. They roused just enough to eat but were soon back asleep.

The next morning, or at least what they thought was morning, Kabuto returned.

"Orochimaru-sama would like to see you in the laboratory for some…tests."

Naruto frowned immediately. "What tests?"

Kabuto smiled. He pushed his glasses up. "Nothing really, just medical tests to determine what kind of enhancements you need—

"Enhancements?!"

Sasuke stepped between them to explain. "Enhancements, uh, like Konoha's soldier pills to improve our strength. Only these get a lot faster results, right?" Sasuke eyed Kabuto as if he'd better hold up his end of some bargain.

Kabuto nodded. "I am a medic-nin, Naruto-kun. And I have developed specially formulated drugs to accelerate your chakra, bumping up your muscle-memory so that when you train—"

Naruto waved at the air as if the words were buzzing around him. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." He scrunched up his face at the traitorous nin. "I don't want any of it. I don't need your drugs, pills, or chakra muscle-memorizer whaddeveryacallits. I'll do it on my own!"

Kabuto looked at him in disbelief. "I can understand if you might not believe me at first, given our shared history, but trust me when I tell you that—"

"Forget it," Sasuke said with a snort. He walked past them into the hall. "You're wasting your time. He'll come around when he's ready."

Kabuto shrugged. "Naruto-kun, if you would prefer to start your taijutsu training, there is a well-equipped training room at the other end of this hall. Turn left, you'll find it at the end."

Naruto nodded, putting fierceness into it. Sasuke rolled his eyes. Then they were gone. And Naruto was left alone to discover the training room.

Their days, if they could even be called that in an underground base devoid of light, ran the same course everyday. Sasuke disappeared for meds, "training" Kabuto called it; Naruto ran through routines in the taijutsu room.

Naruto worked hard, making sure to push himself as long as Sasuke was gone. Which was all day. Naruto was worn out from it all, working himself harder than he ever thought he had before. At night he was exhausted. Sasuke was too. But Naruto felt like he was improving, and that's what mattered.

At the end of the first week, Kabuto proposed a friendly spar. He led them to large room at the end of yet another hall. It was dank and dirty, and Naruto noticed there were heavy locks on the doors that could only be open by key. He also thought maybe it wasn't as impromptu as Kabuto first said because Orochimaru was leaning against the wall just inside the door, waiting for them.

Naruto ignored him and took his place in the center of the room. Sasuke took position across from him. They both nodded.

But Sasuke didn't engage. Naruto smirked. "Eh, come'on teme, show me what you've been up to in that top secret lab." He thumbed over at Kabuto, watching the white-haired man speaking softly to Orochimaru. "What's he got that good old-fashioned training can't—"

Naruto never even saw him move. Sasuke was just a blur in front of him, firing blows at his head and chest before a boot to the gut knocked him off his feet.

Naruto skidded on his back, leaving a grimy streak across the floor. He gasped up at the stone ceiling.

Sasuke laughed once, flexing his fist and marveling at it. "Kabuto was right. I barely felt it. And the speed was definitely quick. But it could be quicker…."

Still wheezing Naruto pushed himself up on his elbows. Then Sasuke did something that he never, ever would have done in Konoha: He crossed the floor with his hand out to help Naruto up.

The implication that Sasuke had bested him, and that he new it, roiled the battered blond. With a growl, he pulled away from Sasuke's partially outstretched hand and heaved himself up off the floor on his own.

"Why don't you just give them a try?" Sasuke said, shoving the rejected hand in his pocket. "Now that you see what the meds can do—"

"No," Naruto said stubbornly. "I told you. None of that stuff. There's no shortcuts to—"

"I know, I know," Sasuke cut him off. "C'mon," he sighed. He to walked to the door. Kabuto and Orochimaru offered some quiet words of praise before leaving. But Naruto remained in the middle of the room, furious.

"We're not finished here," he yelled at Sasuke when they were finally alone. "Come at me again!"

One moment Sasuke was looking back over his shoulder at him, next moment he blurred to the middle of the room, stopping just inches from Naruto's face.

Naruto jerked back in shock.

"Train some more," Sasuke said with a light laugh, "then we'll go again."

Naruto scowled, folded his arms over his chest and looked away, not wanting to admit the obvious. But he was right. There was no point in going on. Sasuke turned and walked back toward the door. Naruto rubbed his sore chin, and thought that if it were the other way round, if Naruto had the upper hand and had just beaten him up, Sasuke probably wouldn't speak to him for a week.

But he wasn't Sasuke. And this wasn't his fight. Right now, he was only here to help Sasuke get stronger. And he was. So he should be happy for him, right?

Well, he was. But he didn't have to show what he didn't really feel. Sasuke may be getting stronger, but this didn't feel right.

Naruto slowly walked to the door. Sasuke stood waiting for him. Naruto frowned petulantly, refusing to look at him. Neither spoke. So in silence they doused the torches and left the darkened room.

The next week was more of the same. Sasuke was gone for hours and hours, while Naruto was left to his own devices. He pounded through his routines, running through them two and three times a day, training until his muscles shook and the heat from the kyuubi strained against it's seal.

But he couldn't cast out the lingering doubt that Sasuke could still beat him.

Most nights Sasuke came in exhausted. He'd always rub one spot on his shoulder, which Naruto thought was peculiar. But as he said nothing, Naruto never asked.

However one night there was blood on his shirt. "Sasuke! You're bleeding! Are you hurt? Did you go at one of them? Did you—"

"Idiot," Sasuke grunted. "This isn't my blood." But Naruto thought he sure looked wounded. Sasuke's hand clutched his shoulder at the base of his neck. Black flecks marred the skin under his hand. Sasuke looked suddenly pale. Naruto narrowed his eyes.

"You _are_ hurt! There, where you keep holding it—"

"Nah," Sasuke wheezed a laugh, "that's not a wound, just part of the training."

"Then what's all that stuff…." Naruto looked back to his neck but the spots were gone. Color was returning to Sasuke's cheeks. His body was less tense, and in a matter of seconds he straightened and even slid his hand away.

But on his neck was a dark mark, a sort of tattoo with three commas swirling in on themselves.

"Eh! What the hell is that? Did you let them do that to you?!"

Sasuke laughed tiredly and eased back into the bed. "It channels the power, that's all. It makes me stronger. If you had one you'd be stronger too."

Naruto scoffed. Sasuke turned and another obvious splatter of blood was revealed.

"So who's blood is it if it's not yours?"

"They bring some men in to help with the spars," he said, already drowsing. "Prisoners, stuff like that…." Then Sasuke was asleep.

Naruto flopped back and rolled away, looking at the wall. That sure the hell wasn't how Konoha did it. Using local prisoners to help with the shinobi training. But maybe it was different here. Maybe they were well payed or maybe it was a better life than being locked up in some small-town jail cell. Naruto decided he'd start poking around, finding out more about this place he was in.

But the next day, half way through his third training round, Sasuke appeared at the door.

"Come on. I want to see what you've been working on this week," he said with a innocent smile. Naruto didn't trust it.

At the sparring room, Kabuto and Orochimaru were already there, leaning against the wall in the shadows. Both nodded a silent greeting to Naruto. Naruto didn't nod back.

"Just ignore them," Sasuke said. "It's just you and me." They got into position across from each other. "Now come at me with everything you've got."

Naruto did, flinging blow after blow at him. But Sasuke blocked them all effortlessly. Naruto mixed his attacks, sweeping kicks in with the sharp jabs. But Sasuke evaded them all.

Naruto growled when he saw the red sharingan flash in Sasuke's eyes. That's why he was better, he told himself between failed punches.

But even as Naruto decided it was the sharingan, he knew something else was going on. It had to be. Sasuke had never moved this fast before.

Naruto rounded on him, throwing everything he had into his kicks and his jabs. And Sasuke blocked every single one as if Naruto had moved in slow motion. Worse though was that Naruto realized he'd never even seen him move.

He was panting, sweating and shaky but he wasn't giving up. And Sasuke's red eyes and slight smile only pissed him off more. Naruto barreled into his ribcage to catch him off guard, then he'd could get him with an uppercut to his chin. But Sasuke deflected each blow with his wrist. And when Naruto angrily lunged up for his chin, Sasuke fluidly slipped his head to the side.

Naruto's fist whistled through air. His eyes went wide. So did Sasuke's smile.

Then the tables turned. Sasuke elbowed Naruto in the back of the neck, then swiveled for a hook to his stomach that brought him back up to standing. Sasuke pounded his gut and chest with rapid fire jabs. Naruto was simply too slow to block them. By the time he moved to deflect one blow, Sasuke was hitting him somewhere else.

Sasuke upped his speed, and the mark on his neck swirled and moved. He swung a roundhouse kick to Naruto's ribs, and Naruto didn't even move to block it. The telltale blur had disappeared. Naruto crumpled into the blow.

Sasuke let him right himself but he didn't ease up the pressure. "Come on Naruto! Is this all you've got," he taunted loudly. The mark on his neck swirled out, licking black marks up his throat.

Clutching his ribs, Naruto cracked an eye up at him. He tried to focus on the strange stuff marring his neck, but his vision was too fuzzy. Didn't matter though, as long as he could see Sasuke, then he could get him.

Sasuke cupped his hand and curled his fingers, calling for Naruto to come at him again. Naruto straightened, spit out blood, and focused on knocking that arrogant smile right off his face. He ran directly at him, two-knuckled fists swinging, watching him closely this time, ready to catch any movement and finish him—

Out of nowhere, Sasuke shot an open-palm strike into Naruto's sternum and sent him flying backwards across the room. He hit the wall with the sickening crack of skull on stone, and slid to the floor in a heap.

Naruto stayed conscious just long enough to see Sasuke drop to his knees, clutching his neck in pain. Kabuto ran over, saying something about excellent progress. But Naruto didn't care. He must've finally landed a blow on the bastard to make him drop like that. Satisfied, Naruto let the woozy blackness claim him.

Later, both recovering on their pallets, Sasuke spoke first about their recent spar.

"You know," he ventured, "maybe you should at least try what Kabuto is preparing—"

"No," Naruto said firmly. "There's no way. I don't trust him at all. And I shouldn't have to explain that to _you_," he said, referring back to their first encounter with Kabuto during the chunin exams.

"Yeah, I know. I don't trust him that much either," Sasuke admitted. "But he really knows his stuff. The meds are really powerful and—"

"I don't care," he snapped. "I'm not doing it."

Sasuke could imagine Naruto, arms folded, stubbornly staring up at the dark ceiling. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Just make sure you don't fall too far behind." He turned roughly on his side toward the wall.

But long after Sasuke had fallen asleep, those words still haunted Naruto.

They were supposed to be partners. But if he couldn't keep up in a spar, then he certainly couldn't help Sasuke when the time came to back him up when he fought Itachi.

In the dark of night, doubts preyed on him. Everything seemed effortless for Sasuke. The sharingan only made it easier. And coupled with strength drugs….

It was clear he was falling behind. And he would only fall farther if he didn't start improving. He had to get better. But how?

Naruto knew he had power, and he knew where it came from. But he had no idea how to access it.

He rolled over, flopping on his belly. This certainly had turned out different from how he first imagined it would be. The two of them, getting stronger and taking on the world. Now he was afraid he'd wouldn't be able keep up. And he hated that feeling.

It was strange, he'd never felt that way in Konoha. When they were all together, working hard and trying harder. Especially her….

He ruthlessly pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He'd made his choice. It was no good to look back now.

He was here, in a wet cave somewhere in the territories, sleeping across the room from Sasuke. He had to get up tomorrow and start all over again. "Don't fall too far behind," Sasuke's voice echoed in his head. Naruto buried his face in the crook of his arm and forced himself to close his eyes and sleep

* * *

><p>Hope you liked it! Sasuke and Naruto are still very much in their Part 1 personas: immature, competitive, not really seeing the bigger picture. And Naruto is seeing that this isn't all it's cracked up to be. But he's still devoted to Sasuke...and ignoring his regrets about leaving. That will come back to bite him, don't you think? ;) Please read and review!<p> 


	4. A New Opponent

**Chapter 4 - A New Opponent**

For Naruto, the days and weeks melted together.

Every morning he would watch Sasuke disappear down the long, damp hall towards the labs, then he'd trudge off in the opposite direction for solitary training.

Sometimes he would encounter the white-haired medic, busily delivering trays of medicine to and fro down the corridors. With that fawning smile, Kabuto would remind him that the door was always open to him as well….

"Naruto-kun, a training regimen like Sasuke-kun's would greatly accelerate your skill—"

Naruto never let him finish. Instead he'd shove past without a word, leaving Kabuto still smiling under the lamplight.

He wanted no part of Kabuto's 'training regimen.' _Pumping drugs into your veins was no training._

Sometimes Orochimaru was with the medic. Although he never pushed the way Kabuto did, Orochimaru always watched…. His never-blinking golden eyes followed Naruto's movements as they passed, and the cruel slant of his smile grew wider the more Naruto tried to ignore him.

Naruto couldn't decide which man he hated more.

If it weren't for Sasuke, he knew he would never have come here. But lately he had even begun to question that. It felt like Sasuke didn't need his help after all. And he didn't like the way that felt.

Stretching back on his pallet one night, staring up at the chinked stones and moss that made up his world now, Naruto knew something had to give.

He and Sasuke no longer spoke at night. He had nothing to share, and Sasuke was concealing more and more about his days. Naruto didn't know if it was because Sasuke knew he didn't approve of the meds…or because he was moving so far ahead in his training. And Naruto just wasn't.

Naruto grit his teeth. He really didn't know what the hell he was doing here.

Sasuke scraped the door open, clearly exhausted, and threw himself on his bed with a great sigh. Naruto blew out a low breath and turned on his side to face the wall.

After several minutes of oppressive silence, Sasuke shifted on his bedding and rallied himself to speak instead of passing immediately out.

"H-Hey Naruto?" There was a note of uncertainty in his tired voice. "Are you doing okay? I mean, I know it's not exactly how we thought it would be, but…."

Naruto's shoulder jerked with a half-hearted shrug.

"So I've been thinking…these guys I've been up against. They're bigger, _stronger_ than any of the Konoha nins I've ever known—" Naruto seemed to sink even deeper into the bedding. Sasuke quickly rephrased. "I mean, they're different from _any_ nins I've met. So I don't have to hold back. I can go as far as I want."

Sasuke watched Naruto's unmoving back for a moment before continuing. "And…I was thinking you should be doing that too. Going up against anybody you can. I know you don't want to take the meds…and you don't have to," he added in a rush, "but that doesn't mean your training should come to a halt."

Naruto shrugged carelessly again, but something tight in his chest was unwinding at Sasuke's words. He realized he'd been afraid Sasuke had forgotten about him. A ragged sigh escaped. "Yeah, I guess," he said quietly.

"I'll talk to them in the morning," Sasuke said firmly. "That taijutsu's got to be driving you crazy."

Naruto snorted. Sasuke laughed, clearly relieved to be finally getting some kind of reaction.

"If I'm learning new stuff, you need to be learning new stuff too. We're still in this together, right?" Sasuke's coaxing smile colored his voice. "Together, right?"

"Yeah…. Together." Naruto flopped back on the pallet and dared a glance at Sasuke. In that moment, any distance in their friendship, real or imagined, faded away. Sasuke smiled — a rare thing, they both knew — and Naruto remembered why he'd left with Sasuke in the first place. They were partners now.

A corner of Naruto's mouth tugged up. He quickly stretched back on his pallet before his face broke into a high-wattage beam. Sasuke laughed, reading his mind, and bedded down, but Naruto clasped his hands behind his head and grinned up into the darkness.

_And wasn't this proof that they were partners? Knowing what was troubling him and finding a way to fix it?_

That must be a sign of a _true_ bond between them. Naruto closed his eyes, feeling better than he had in weeks.

The next morning, Sasuke was true to his words. Instead of sitting obediently in the lab chair while Kabuto pulled out the tray of prepared injections, Sasuke remained standing.

Orochimaru looked up from a chart and tipped his head thoughtfully. "Something on your mind, Sasuke-kun?"

"Naruto," he said firmly. "He is unhappy. And his training is insufficient," he declared.

"Ah," Orochimaru said with a tight smile. He laid the clipboard on the table. "That doesn't surprise me. I believe he was under Jiraiya's tutelage for a little while?" Sasuke nodded. Orochimaru's smile turned to a grimace. "Yes the boy is just like him," he said with distaste. "Impatient and hard-headed. Only learns through physical means. You two are so very different…."

His voice suddenly turned silken. "I'm surprised you're so fond of him, Sasuke-kun…." Orochimaru pinned him with a penetrating gaze and glided a long finger down the edge of the table.

Sasuke glared thunderously back. "I don't know what the hell you are talking about, but he's my teammate, and if you're not going to help him too, then—"

"Oh don't worry on that account, Sasuke-kun." Orochimaru's coy smile returned. "I told you I understand about Konoha and teammates. Jiraiya was very much the same as Naruto. Just as loyal…and just as stubborn."

Orochimaru crossed the room to a large rack of scrolls. His fingers floated over the alphabetically organized shelves, stopping at the "J," then pulled out a scroll that was thicker than the rest.

"Kabuto had hoped he would come around," Orochimaru spoke while perusing the scroll, "accept the enhancements and then be able to spar with you. But I had my doubts." He smiled knowingly. "Naruto-kun is like Jiraiya after all. And no shortcuts will do…."

He read more, opening the scroll farther. "But I think _he_ will do nicely…." Orochimaru nodded to himself. "Yes, vast reserves of power. Some _untapped_ talents, shall we say…."

Sasuke looked skeptical. "Naruto is very strong, he shouldn't be put up against just anyone—"

"Oh don't worry. I think our Naruto-kun will find this one an even match. He's pleasant enough," Orochimaru's gold eyes glittered, "but he hides a dark secret."

Sasuke frowned, but kept any reservations to himself. Naruto would just have to withstand whatever Orochimaru had in store for him.

"And now that _he's_ sufficiently entertained, let's get back to _you_ Sasuke-kun," he drawled, holding his arm out for Sasuke to take a seat.

Sasuke slowly did as he was told. Orochimaru passed the scroll back to Kabuto. Kabuto's eyebrows hitched up, but he nodded approvingly at the choice.

"Oh, and be sure to separate him from Kimmimaro a few hours before they spar."

"Hai," Kabuto said, tucking the scroll in his pocket.

Orochimaru smiled down at Sasuke, patting him on the shoulder. "Now then, where were we…."

Kabuto stepped around to Sasuke's exposed arm and primed the injection. Silver fluids dribbled out the end of the needle.

He smoothed back Sasuke's pale skin, thumbing down the flesh until he found a fat blue vein. His silver glasses flashed.

"You'll feel a slight pinch," he said with the ghost of a smile. Then he pushed the needle in.

Sasuke grit his teeth, hating Kabuto for his stupid joke. He closed his eyes as the liquid fire burned through his veins.

Orochimaru watched it all with hungry interest.

Finished, Kabuto pulled out the needle, turned back to the clipboard and jotted down a few notes. Then he rolled the paper into a scroll and returned it to the empty spot on the shelf marked "S."

* * *

><p>"Have fun, Naruto-kun," Kabuto cooed. He held back his arm, ushering him through a darkened doorway. Two raggedly dressed men stood at either side, pikes at the ready. "Knock twice when you're ready to come out."<p>

The men swung the heavy door shut behind him. A bar lock slid into place with a clang that echoed into the dim, cavernous room.

Naruto stood still, letting his eyes adjust. Impenetrable black shadows stretched away from him, disguising the room's depth. With its stone floors and vaulted ceilings, the cell felt more like a dungeon than a sparring room….

Naruto's nervous breath sounded overly loud. Water dripped and torches crackled and his breathing grew more and more ragged, echoing back to him—

Naruto shut his mouth, suddenly hoping it was only himself he heard.

But sure enough the rasping breathing continued, growing in intensity and and becoming more…_feral_.

Naruto only had a stab of a second to wonder if Kabuto had locked him in there with a bear before a creature exploded from the far end of the room.

Meaty arms studded with horns swung out of the darkness, sending Naruto dancing backwards out of their lethal embrace. A beast swung furiously at Naruto in great grey-skinned blurs.

Naruto darted around the monster, using its considerable size against him. Getting behind it, Naruto's gut clenched. Its hunched grey back rippled with sinewy protrusions. _It must be twice as tall as he was—_

The beast swung a clawed hand back in a devastating arc. Naruto ducked and leapt backwards into the safety of a dark corner. But his relief was short lived. Naruto realized he'd just put the beast between him and door. _He'd cut off his only escape route._

The creature turned slowly, looking for his prey. Naruto's heart pounded, but he held very, very still.

The feral breathing returned. The creature panted through its open mouth, which was stretched overly wide to accommodate his fanged teeth. Lips thin and curled back, his face might have looked human if it wasn't forced into smile of the cruelest kind.

The beast's eyes darted around, landing on Naruto's hiding spot and peering directly at him. Naruto froze.

Wild yellow irises filled his eyes, with black where the whites should have been. A glimmer of drool dropped from a tooth point.

A small skittering noise echoed from across the room and the beast's attention moved on. Naruto cautiously exhaled.

The creature swiveled slowly, revealing mottled purple skin. The discoloration continued into his shocks of blood-red hair. Naruto noted with deepening dread that there were many things about him that looked almost…human.

The creature completed the circle. His back and arms were molten and misshapen, almost reptilian. But Naruto couldn't ignore that the form underneath was certainly human.

_A human with something horribly wrong with it._

Naruto felt sick. Whatever this creature was — one of Kabuto's experiments gone wrong or possibly even a jinchuriki like him — keeping him locked up wasn't right. And neither was fighting him.

But Naruto knew he might have to to get out.

Muffled voices came through the door. The beast turned slightly, concentrating all his attention there. A slotted window snapped open. Someone peered through. Naruto thought he saw the telltale reflective flash of glasses, and he hated Kabuto all over again.

But he put it from his mind. Slowly and silently, Naruto lowered to a crouch and began feeling around for an object to throw. His hand closed on a long, cold _something_…. He would have thought it was a branch if it didn't feel so very smooth and…_ugh_…_bone_-like.

Naruto grit his teeth and straightened, telling himself that whoever that bone once belonged to, they obviously didn't need it now. And he did.

Keeping his eyes on the door, Naruto hurled the bone into the opposite dark corner. It clattered loudly, knocking on walls and floors. The beast swung around with a great growl, pummeling the air and hurtling toward the sound.

Naruto launched out as well, moving in silent tandem behind him, heading straight for the door.

Kabuto's eyes still hovered behind the open slot. Seeing Naruto, they pinched at the corners, as if he was laughing.

"Kabuto! Open the door right now!"

The beast fumbled in the darkness behind him, howling in renewed fury at his lost prey.

"Was he too much for you Naruto-kun? I was beginning to think—"

There was a scrambling sound and suddenly the creature was pushing out of the darkness, barreling right for Naruto—

"_KABUTO! OPEN THE DOOR!"_

A crack of light split the door from the wall, and Naruto didn't wait. He wedged his fingers into the gap, tugged hard, then shoved himself through. Naruto tumbled into the lit hallway, ferocious growls chasing him. He righted himself in time to see a clawed purple hand swiping through the opening after him.

But Kabuto was prepared. The two men at door wielded their pikes, which were now wrapped at the ends with dripping fabric strips. They jabbed at the creature's appendage, causing its skin to sizzle and smoke immediately. It only took a few prods, and the beast recoiled, yowling with pain.

Naruto stood and dusted himself off. The men closed the door and laid the pikes in the corner. Whatever acidic concoction that was, it had already eaten through the torn bandages.

The beast pounded on the door, sending clouds of grit puffing from the sides. Naruto watched it, nervously wondering if those stones were capable of holding back a man like that—

Kabuto laughed out loud at his fearful expression.

"What the hell were you doing," Naruto said flushing with embarrassed anger. "Locking me in there with that…that…_thing_!?"

More banging exploded from the metal door behind Kabuto, sending the medic quick-stepping to Naruto's side of the corridor.

Flustered, he snapped at the men. "You two! Bring Kimimaro to the cell, then…then return to the lab!" The men nodded flatly and shuffled off.

Naruto watched them go then turned back to Kabuto, narrowing his eyes at the sneaky medic.

But Kabuto's flash of fear was gone. He brushed invisible dirt from his shirt and set off in the opposite direction down the corridor. When Naruto didn't immediately follow, Kabuto stopped and waited expectantly.

Begrudgingly, Naruto fell into step.

"So our Juugo was too much for you?" Kabuto smirked over at him. "I was beginning to think we couldn't find anything to entertain you."

Scowling, Naruto swore under his breath.

"But you performed admirably, escaping unharmed. Untouched I'd dare say," Kabuto said, eyeing him. "Better than most who go on there," he sniffed.

Remembering the bone he'd used to buy his escape, Naruto's anger refocused. "So what the hell was that _thing_? I need to fight with real people. Not some bear…or whatever it was before you experimented on it."

"A bear…is that what you thought he looked like? Interesting…."

"It was a…a monster! And if it was some wild animal you've messed up then that's…well, that's just not right! And…and it's not fair, either! How can I fight against that?!"

"Interesting…." Kabuto stopped at the intersection of another long dark corridor. He plucked an unlit torch from the wall and lit it on one already burning in the main corridor.

"So, let me see if I understand you, Naruto-kun…."

Naruto hated that name _and_ Kabuto's placating voice. But he wanted an explanation. So he stayed rooted to the spot, even though the tone of his voice made him want to turn and leave.

"So…good Leaf nin that you are, you are concerned that this is not fair, you fighting this…monster, as you say."

Naruto glared at him, changing his mind about hearing him out.

But Kabuto nodded as if he'd answered. "So then would you think it's _fair_ if we paired _you_ up with one of the men here…?" He leaned forward and poked Naruto's chest. "Men who do not possess your considerable…_talents_?" His voice dropped, turning malicious. "Tell me now, would that be fair?"

Light from the torch splashed menacingly across his face and glinted off his silver glasses.

"What would they think of you Naruto-kun? A man…or a monster?"

Naruto leaned back, blinking in surprise.

Kabuto straightened. His velvet voice returned. "For your information, Juugo is a man…just like you. And he has some considerable _talents_. Just like you. His powers are his own. We did nothing to him. In fact, I am testing him to try to help him control his urges."

Kabuto tipped his head and pushed his glasses up his nose. "The lab tests, the experiments. All of it is to help him. If I can test it on the men, isolate it in the small batches, then I can control it— Or rather, help him control it."

Light bounced off the front of his glasses. "You understand, don't you? Naruto-kun?"

Naruto didn't answer. He jammed his hands in his pockets, not sure what to believe.

Kabuto sighed dramatically. "We had hoped that you would be able to help him with his urges. Defuse his anger. You did seem to be a good match for his strength and abilities…." He gave Naruto a sympathetic smile. "But I understand if he frightened you."

Naruto immediately gaped to disagree, but Kabuto didn't wait. He took a few steps down the dark hallway before swinging the torch light around for a last look back.

"I'll tell Orochimaru-sama of your fears. Don't worry Naruto-kun, you won't have to face that man…I mean, _monster_, again." Naruto pursed his mouth in fresh anger. "And perhaps we can have some extra equipment brought to your sparring quarters. Like one of those round-bottomed dummies that rights itself after each punch—"

"I'm not afraid of him," Naruto exclaimed. "I just…I just didn't know what the hell was going on. You could have told me something, you know!"

"But where is the fun in that, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto shook his head, muttering another curse under his breath. Shadows pooled in the dimples of Kabuto's smirk. "Well, if you think you're up to it, you can go back tomorrow. But if you get too scared—"

"I'm not scared!"

Kabuto laughed and swung back around to continue down the corridor. "Of course not, Naruto-kun! Of course not!" The light bobbed around him until he rounded a corner and disappeared.

_I just don't think it's right. That's all._

Scowling, Naruto returned to his quarters.

* * *

><p>"Hey, I heard you got the shit scared out of you today."<p>

"What!? I did not! That damned Kabuto set me up and—"

"Doesn't matter," Sasuke said laughing. He closed the door behind him. "I'm just glad you found something to do."

Naruto laid back down on his bedding, frowning.

"So what's this guy like."

Naruto shrugged. "He doesn't look like a 'guy' at all. He's got something wrong with him. Weird skin, weird eyes. He's huge. Way bigger than me. And he's got these extra pieces that stick out everywhere."

Sasuke listened quietly. He pulled his shirt over his head and folded it in with a stack of similar clothes at the bottom of his bed roll.

"I thought I'd been put in with an animal. Then when he came out, I thought it was a bear—" Naruto looked sharply at Sasuke. "What happened to your neck?"

Sasuke turned quickly and cupped his hand over the white bandage where his neck met his shoulder. "Uh, nothing. Just a surprise hit."

"Who the hell got one-up on you to leave a wound like that?"

Sasuke laughed and quickly shrugged on another shirt. "Yeah…some crazy dude, like the one you were talking about." Sasuke turned and sat on the edge of the bed, and leveled a serious gaze at Naruto. "So what was this guy like?"

"Well, I don't actually know. I mean, I didn't fight him. I just got the hell out of there—"

"Was he strong?"

"Uh…yeah. He was real strong. I thought he was going to tear down that door. Or go through the rock wall. And Kabuto thought so too. But I—"

"Then that's all that matters."

Naruto peered across the room at Sasuke, about to add that he still didn't think it was right.

"We get stronger. Any way we can. And to do that, we can either get stronger ourselves or fight guys who are stronger."

Naruto looked at him seriously. "And which one are you doing, Sasuke?"

His black eyes shifted for a fraction of a second. "The same as you," he said, forcing a quick smile. "I'm going up against stronger guys, getting stronger too and—"

Shaking his head, Naruto swatted his words away like flies. "Listen, Kabuto said he was mixing batches of whatever's wrong with this guy. Testing it out on some of his lab rats." Naruto shifted in on his pallet and pulled the covers up. "Just be careful, okay? Don't let him try out any weird shit on you."

"I already told you," Sasuke said warningly. "If it makes me get stronger faster, then I'm going to try it. That's what I'm here for…. What _we're_ here for."

Sasuke stood suddenly to cap the flame off the torch, ending the discussion. Naruto rolled his eyes at his back, then flopped over on the hard musty bedding and tried to get comfortable.

"Yeah, well you didn't see this guy today. He was more animal than human. I think anyone infected with that junk would turn out wrong…. No matter how strong it makes you," he mumbled.

In the darkness, Sasuke bent to pull back the cover on his pallet, but his shoulder spasmed suddenly. He gripped the patched area, breathed through the pain, and eased into the bed.

"Wow," Sasuke said a strained laugh. "The guy must have been really strong to have scared _you_ so much."

"_Dammit! I wasn't scared of him!"_

Sasuke snickered softly in the darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Thanks for the reviews and faves! WitchyMage especially! ;) So this chapter goes back to the initial scariness of Juugo. Not the kind-hearted big-guy from in Sasuke's current manga team, but the original terrifying murderer who could only be controlled by Kimimaro's calming presence. Remember him, the one who was deciding whether to kill the next person who came to his cell...? Yeah...that guy. Scary. But don't worry, there will be more on him in the future. Anyway, hope you like, and I hope everyone is still in character, be it creepy, scary, manipulative or trusting. Read and review!


	5. Unshakeable Bonds

**5 - Unshakeable Bonds**

For Naruto, mornings in the containment cell with Juugo became more and more vicious. He really couldn't classify it as training — it was _survival_. Often he had to summon his own well of kyuubi chakra just to get through it. Which always took its toll long after the he'd left the cell.

Orochimaru came down to watch the first few times, reassuring that if it ever went too far they would intervene. But no one ever did.

"We are not so different, you know. I grew up in Konoha too," Orochimaru said to a heaving Naruto in the corridor after a spar. Naruto slanted an incredulous look up at the man. Orochimaru simply smiled, earrings swaying behind his curtain of black hair. "Just think of this like your chunin exams. Once you beat Juugo, you can move on to the next."

Naruto rolled his eyes, not believing it for a moment.

"Let's start by seeing how long you can stay in there, shall we?"

Orochimaru pulled a small hourglass from the sleeve of his kimono and passed it to Kabuto, who flipped it upside down and hung it from a hook beside a flickering torch.

Naruto scowled. But Orochimaru flashed a patronizing smile. "Time's wasting, Naruto-_kun_." Kabuto smirked, and both men left.

Scraps of their conversation drifted back.

"How long do you think he will last," Orochimaru asked.

Kabuto snickered softly. "Probably not half as long as Sasuke-kun could," he said, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Yes…but still, it will be interesting to see how his little friend fares…."

Prideful fury had Naruto straightening and brushing himself off again. He glared at the empty corridor where the men had left. Then he turned back to the metal door.

"Open it," he commanded without looking at the other men or the swaying hourglass beside his head. The door swung back on the growling darkness. And Naruto disappeared inside.

Day after day, his "training" continued. The monster…_Juugo_…would swipe at Naruto, hurtling every ounce of his malicious power into crushing him like a mosquito under his meaty fist. Naruto would stay in the room, bobbing and weaving, darting around the behemoth or hiding in the darkness, until he couldn't take any more. But each day, he lasted a few seconds longer.

Naruto worked out a system when he was ready to end it. He'd bang on the door once, then he'd peel off to distract Juugo. The men would unlock the bolt, and when Naruto was ready he would make a dash for the door.

At first, he easily outwitted the dull beast. But Naruto discovered that Juugo caught on quick. Naruto could never use the same distraction more than a few times in a row. This must have been why the men had the acid-tipped pikes ready. Just in case.

Over time, the swaying hour-glass beside the torch got larger and larger. Naruto had developed his evasive skills in ways he could never had imagined, but he was proud of himself. He felt like he could stay in the dark room as long as he wanted and outwit, outrun or outlast Juugo.

And he said as much one afternoon when he accompanied Sasuke to Kabuto's lab. No one spoke, but Sasuke looked up from the Kabuto's tray of med and nodded, duly impressed.

However, Orochimaru undid all his success in a single blow.

"So Naruto-kun," Orochimaru asked casually, "remind me again…have you ever actually landed a hit on Juugo?"

Activity in the room ceased.

"Uh…."

Sasuke glanced back sharply, hand suspended over the small cups of pills and liquids.

Naruto blinked and began to speak…but he couldn't find a good reason, other than it just felt…wrong. He knew some part of his mind still saw Juugo as a beast, not a willing participant.

But in the face of the three of them, his reasons sounded weak. He closed his mouth.

Orochimaru tipped his head with a simpering smile. "Curious…."

Sasuke frowned deeply at him, clearly wondering what the hell he'd been doing in there.

Kabuto never looked up, instead to hitching his eyebrows knowingly as he fussed over the cups on the tray. They clinked softly in the lengthening silence.

Naruto cleared his throat. But the words, "It's just not fair," died on his lips.

"Well, Naruto-_kun_, perhaps that should be your next goal to shoot for," Orochimaru said as if speaking to a child. Then he turned back to Sasuke and activity in the room seemed to resume, leaving Naruto behind.

Naruto went red with anger. His mouth twisted into a childish pucker and he glared at the two men. Sasuke swigged back a cup of pills, chasing it with water, and shot him a warning look over the edge of the glass. "Just do it," he mouthed threateningly when no one was looking.

Naruto turned on his heel and stalked out.

That night, Sasuke picked up where they left off.

"What's wrong with you? When have you ever been afraid to go after someone?" he said seriously, closing the door behind him.

"I'm not afraid of him, alright!?" Naruto sat up, letting the blankets pool at his waist. "It just…it doesn't feel right, that's all." His voice trailed off.

"What doesn't? The fact that this guy wants to pound you into nothing?"

Sasuke unhooked a sheathed training tanto from his waist and hung it up above his pallet.

Naruto looked at the dagger sullenly, another reminder that Sasuke was moving on. He swung his gaze away. Sasuke didn't miss it.

"Look, these guys we fight, whatever they have in them, it makes them extra angry. So we have to help them let off that steam. Right? Because this is all they want to do, cause trouble and fight." Sasuke tugged off his shirt. "That's why they are so good for us to go up against. We get to fight against guys who aren't holding back. And we don't have to hold back either."

Naruto twisted up his face. "Why don't _we_ have to hold back?"

"They have something in them that heals easier, which is part of what makes them that much stronger." Sasuke suddenly slid his gaze away. "Or so I've heard from Kabuto." He pulled back the cover and got into bed.

Naruto laid back down, hands behind his head, thinking. "M'kay," he said finally. "I'll try. If you think it won't hurt him."

"Sure of it," Sasuke said sleepily. "I've been fighting guys like him for a while. They just get right back up…. It's…. It's amazing…."

Naruto looked across at his sleeping form in the darkness, thinking that he would call it lots of things. But not amazing.

The next morning, he stood silently in front of the cell door. He had to wait, as he always did, for one of the men to go "awaken it." What they did, he didn't know. But he always knew when Juugo was finally awake — the man always came barreling for the entrance, screaming "Open! Open!"

The door slid back in a woosh, the man tore out, and Naruto stepped in. Then the door closed solidly behind him.

Angry breathing filled up the darkness. Juugo swung, Naruto deftly jumped to the side. He lurched around and swung again. Naruto ducked below it.

He had become quick enough that he didn't need to draw on as much of the kyuubi's chakra to help him escape. So he reasoned, as he darted around the mutated limbs, that all he would need to do was get close to Juugo. Then he could strike. Easy enough, Naruto thought with buoying confidence as he leaned out of the range of a swiping clawed hand.

Juugo howled in anger and threw himself at the spot where Naruto stood. But Naruto was gone. Juugo was stunned into silent fury for a moment.

From the angled darkness over directly over Juugo's head, Naruto smiled down at him. At the moment of impact, Naruto had pushed chakra to his feet and dashed up the wall. He was completely concealed, and Juugo would never think to look up. Naruto laughed inwardly at his plan. One flying roundhouse kick and this would all be over. The behemoth would be flat on his back before he knew what hit him.

Juugo stood completely still and cocked his head, listening. Naruto knew it was his moment. In perfect silence he launched off the wall, turning his body into a spin and whipping his leg around, readying to crack it across the man's skull—

Juugo snapped his head up and looked straight at Naruto. Shock splashed across Naruto's face, but it was too late too stop. Juugo snatched his foot out of the air and hurled him into the metal door, making a body-sized crater in the metal that bubbled out the other side.

Naruto slid to the floor, lungs emptied of air. Juugo galloped toward him, exploding with anger that seemed to rewrite his very structure. Horns protruded from his head, his fingers sharpened to claws and winged blades shot from his elbows. Naruto struggled and gasped, forcing himself to move, certain those glowing yellow eyes coming out of the darkness would be the last thing ever saw—

The door behind him suddenly tore open. A hand hooked his collar and yanked him into the hall. Then the door wrenched shut a scant second before Juugo slammed into it with all his snarling fury. Dust puffed out around the rumpled edges, but he could not break it down.

Naruto lay in the corridor, clutching his chest and wheezing. The men put up their pikes, obviously aware that their services were no longer needed that day, and left him to recover alone on the cold, wet stones.

That night, Sasuke thankfully did not broach the subject. He must have started some new training regimen by the way he eased into bed, careful of his injured shoulder, and passed right out.

Naruto closed his eyes, pushing away the fact that Sasuke was still moving on…yet he was not.

The next day, he tried again. And the next. And the next.

Sometimes he was able to get away. Other times Juugo nearly threw him through the wall. But he was never able to land a hit.

Naruto knew now that he had drastically underestimated the man. And he was certain that that was why Orochimaru had paired them. Juugo was a predator, constantly watching and using his weaknesses against him.

He was at a loss as to how to beat him, so he did the one thing that came naturally: he pulled out more of the demon's chakra.

It made him sick, and exhausted, and at one point he thought he could actually see red around his hands. But it helped. Even if he felt like he couldn't live in his own skin for a few hours afterwards.

Because he finally managed to land a punch on the beast.

But it ended there. Naruto's fist against his big head felt like he was hitting a stone wall. Juugo craned his neck around and swatted Naruto away, sending him flying him across the cell.

He tried again and again, day after day, week after week, but each hit ended the same. He couldn't make Juugo feel even a ripple of pain. And Naruto usually ended up limping back to their quarters.

This day was no different. Naruto rolled his shoulder, rubbing the spot where he'd crashed into the wall. He unhooked a torch and carried it down the darkened maze of corridors toward his chambers. There were few lights at this end of the complex these days…because he was the only one here.

He hadn't seen Sasuke in several weeks. Training, was all he'd said when he left. Naruto shrugged at the time, but bitterness had slowly taken root.

Because of course since Sausuke was gone, he hadn't seen Kabuto or Orochimaru in a few weeks either.

Kabuto's sneering words echoed back to him in the darkness. _"I was beginning to think we couldn't find anything to entertain you…."_

Naruto sighed and rubbed a grimy hand across his forehead. Feeling a smear of dirt, he dragged his forearm sleeve across it.

_Well…they certainly had found something to occupy his time. _

It was weird, after having so much attention for so long, both bad and good, now he was treated like a child that needed to be entertained. And after that, he received no attention at all.

Not that he wanted any extra favors from Orochimaru and Kabuto. Because he didn't. Naruto shuddered at the thought, making the light waver and splash down the silent corridor.

But it was clear that if he wanted to improve, he was going to have to depend on himself.

_Sure, Sasuke may have said they were in this together, but more and more it seemed like he was on his own…._

Naruto turned down the last long hall, only to frown at the orange light spilling out of the doorway to his room.

He approached warily, surprised to hear the familiar sound of kunai clinking and thudding onto a bed. _Sasuke was back._

Naruto stood in the doorway for a moment, staring at a transformed Sasuke. He wore different clothes, similar to Orochimaru's, even down to the big rope belt. From a coil at the back he was just drawing out a long, gleaming katana.

Naruto scowled inwardly at the obvious sign of progress and stepped into the room.

"Hey," Sasuke said with a backwards glance. He hung the huge sword on the wall where the tanto used to hang.

Naruto nodded once without looking at him, jammed the torch down into the holder on his side of the room, extinguished the flame, then threw himself into the bed, not even bothering to change.

His feelings had suddenly congealed. _Sasuke didn't need his help. And if Sasuke didn't need him, if they weren't a team, then what the hell was he doing here—_

"So what's been happening since I left? Make any headway?"

Naruto stared at the cracks in the wall, the same ones he'd been looking at for months and months now. What could he say?

That he was moving at the same rate as the cracks in the wall? That he tried so hard sometimes the demon's chakra bled through? That some days he thought he more in common with that man-beast than with Sasuke?

Naruto folded his arms over his chest, rounding his shoulders. He could barely even admit to himself that when he landed a hit on Juugo he still felt weak and wretched, because he knew…deep down…that this was not the way a shinobi was supposed to be….

Naruto crushed his eyes shut on the dank wall in front of his face. But sunlit memories of training and laughter and pink hair spun through his head. He closed his mind against them and pushed back on the tears stinging his eyes.

"Nah," he muttered, throat tight. "No headway."

"H-Hey Naruto…" Sasuke's voice had lost its characteristic certainty. "I know this is hard. It's hard for me too. But it's only for right now. It won't always be like this."

Naruto didn't move. But at length he shrugged one shoulder.

"You know we're still in this together. Right…? Right?"

Naruto flopped back and stared up at the ceiling. "Yeah, alright. I guess," he said in a monotone that made it clear he wasn't alright.

"Hey," Sasuke said, thinking quickly, "Orochimaru might know some secrets about the kyuubi that they weren't allowed to tell you in Konoha. Or some better ways to handle it. He's seen a lot, you know. And he _was_ Jiraiya's teammate…."

Naruto flipped back on his side at the mention of his old mentor's name. Sasuke cringed.

"What I'm saying is that since he's from Konoha too, he may know some secret techniques for dealing with the kyuubi."

Naruto said nothing. But he sullenly thought that if the creep did know anything, he sure hadn't offered to share it. But at least Sasuke had offered….

"I'm sorry I was away at the other hideout for so long." Sasuke said quietly. "Listen, I have a plan and…well, no matter what they think, we won't be staying. We'll learn everything we can then move on. Promise."

Again, Naruto was silent.

"And…I'll make it up to you when we get out of this." There was a note of desperation in Sasuke's voice. "Then we can do whatever you want, ok? Wherever you want to go. You decide."

Naruto thought darkly that it probably didn't apply to Konoha. But that was okay, because to go back there, even for quick visit, they'd have to sneak in…until they took care of Itachi of course. Then they could go back as heroes—

"Hey Naruto?" Sasuke asked, unsure for perhaps the first time in his life of the answer. "We're still in this together, right?"

Naruto sighed. Hearing those words was a soothing balm after everything he'd been through. If felt like a tightly wound coil inside his chest finally unwound.

"Yeah," Naruto breathed. "We're still in it together." He turned over. The cracks in the wall didn't look so harsh and jagged anymore. His eyelids sagged. Exhaustion swept over him as if he'd finally put down a heavy burden.

"Good," Sasuke exhaled. The blankets softly rustled and he eased into his bed. "Cause I don't think I could've done it alone."

Naruto blinked once at those words. A worry line creased his smudged forehead. He didn't altogether like the sound of that…but he was too tired to dwell on it. 'Didn't matter anyway,' he told himself with a deep shuddering breath. 'They were in it together. Teammates….' His forehead smoothed, and his eyes drooped shut.

* * *

><p>And the next day, Sasuke kept his word.<p>

"Naruto needs more training than just taijutsu. He needed something else…something more." Sasuke stared down at Orochimaru where he sat at his desk. "If Naruto isn't properly trained, then neither of us are happy."

Orochimaru laid the scroll aside and folded his hands.

"Well, if you feel so strongly about it, Sasuke-kun," he smiled tightly at Sasuke, "then I'll see what I can do. However, you should know, there is a lot more injury involved in channeling chakra than there ever is in taijutsu. But perhaps," his eyes flashed, "I could alter the seal, and give him greater access to the kyuubi's chakra."

Clearly excited by the idea, Orochimaru stood and pulled out a handful of scrolls from the shelves behind him reading and nodding and saying "Yes…" and "That would do nicely as well…."

Sasuke watched the older man with suspicion. He didn't trust Orochimaru's enthusiasm. But there was not much he could do. This was what Naruto wanted, so he'd just have to deal with it….

* * *

><p>"<em>HELL NO!<em> You're not touching my seal!"

"Naruto-kun, I can understand, I was only trying to help you before and—"

Naruto clamped both hands over his gut. "Jiraiya fixed it, and I'm not letting you anywhere near it, ever again! So you can just forget it!"

The smooth lines of Orochimaru's face hardened. Shadows pooled under his eyes and in the hollows of his cheeks, turning his face angular and deadly.

"Suit yourself," he hissed. "Juugo is more than happy to keep throwing you into walls." He rolled up the scrolls and slide them back in their spots.

But Orochimaru's malice only seemed to galvanize Naruto more — he jutted out his chin, wrapping his arms firmly around his midsection.

Across the room, Sasuke glared at Naruto, recognizing by the look on Naruto's face that he would never relent now. But if he didn't intervene, Naruto would be curled up in bed, depressed and hopeless, by nightfall.

Sasuke grit his teeth. "Orochimaru…_sama_," he forced himself to say. Orochimaru cocked up an eyebrow at the added epithet. "Maybe there is something else you could show Naruto, something else that might help him. Something other than the seal." _Anything_, he wanted to add, but he kept his emotion guarded.

Orochimaru watched Sasuke, thoughtfully stroking the edge of his robe. "Well, I suppose, we could work with his elemental training. Is that what you had in mind, Sasuke-_kun_?"

The man drawled his name in a way that made Sasuke's fingers twitch for a weapon, but he stopped himself. "Yes," Orochimaru looked at him expectantly, "…Orochimaru-_sama_."

The fawning elegance returned. "Good, I feel like we're getting somewhere. Naruto-kun," Orochimaru sat down at his desk and curled his long fingers under, beckoning him. "Let's test you for your natural affinity, shall we?"

Naruto frowned once at the man, then darted a cautious glance Sasuke.

Mouth held in an angry pinch, Sasuke jerked his head and glared back with a look that promised severe pain if Naruto bucked _this_ offer.

Naruto ignored him, but he still shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered over.

Orochimaru retrieved a normal-looking cream square of paper from his desk. "It's special," Orochimaru said, "and when you flood it with your chakra, we can determine what kind of elemental affinity you have: water, earth, fire or wind."

Naruto did as he was instructed, and the paper tore in half.

"As I suspected," Orochimaru said. "You are a wind nature."

Naruto hitched his eyebrows, impressed. "Hey, what are you Sasuke?"

"Fire," he said flatly.

"Very desirable," Orochimaru added.

Naruto's interest swelled. "What about wind?"

"Not so much," Orochimaru said flatly, and he threw away the torn pieces.

Deflated, Naruto pondered the four elements for a moment. "So…which is more powerful?"

"Fire," Sasuke and Orochimaru said at the same time.

Naruto's shoulders slumped.

"But, Naruto-kun, your nature is not important." Orochimaru's serpentine charm returned, and he spoke to Naruto with the same fluid voice and simpering smile that was usually reserved only for Sasuke. "What's important is how you _use_ your element. If you combine it with your other strengths you can make stronger jutsus. Or you can charge it with your chakra and use it to become a weapon—"

Orochimaru stopped and looked at Naruto's comically puzzled face as if he wasn't really seeing the boy, instead remembering someone else entirely.

He curled his mouth down in distaste and whipped out another square of paper—

"H-Hey, is that one special too?"

"Not at all," Orochimaru said dryly. "I have a hunch that long discussions are wasted on you, if you are anything like my old teammate. So take this," he pushed the paper into Naruto's hand, "and stare at it until it rips in half."

Naruto looked at him, stricken.

"You do that, use your wind element to tear this simple paper in half — not with your hand or your teeth or anything else," he said it as if speaking to a child, "then bring it back to me. After you've mastered your wind nature, Kabuto can put you on a regimen—"

"Eh…. Thanks but no thanks. I'll just work on this." He shoved the paper in his pocket, turned on his heel and left.

Orochimaru's eyes followed him.

"Thank you…Orochimaru-sama," Sasuke said, even though it killed him. He followed Naruto out immediately without looking back. But he couldn't ignore Orochimaru's voice slithering through the air behind him.

"My pleasure, Sasuke-_kun_."

* * *

><p>The next week Sasuke trained and Naruto stared at the piece of paper.<p>

He stared so long he hated it.

He stared so long he wished it would burn up in his fingers.

He stared so long he thought _he_ was going to rip in half before the damned paper ever did.

But after a full week, he was ready to give up. He just didn't care anymore. He threw himself back on his bed, still holding the paper out in front of him. It felt so light in his hands it was like it wasn't even there.

But even when he closed his eyes, he could still see the damn thing, hovering there, perfectly square, waiting to be torn.

He sunk down farther into the bed, imagining what it would be like to feel that sweet release of the paper cleaving in half…. The two pieces finally fluttering under his fingertips….

Then a strange thing happened. It was so slight at first he thought he'd imagined it. But a stray breeze licked past his toes, skittered over his fatigues and swirled softly around his hands.

And before he had time to wonder where the stray breeze had come from in a still, underground bunker…the soft hiss of tearing paper filled the air.

Naruto popped his eyes open. A rip had begun at the top edge of the square.

But his startled excitement immediately plunged into worry. He was afraid he'd done it himself. _Maybe he had fallen asleep and tore it while he was dreaming._

Naruto stared at the paper, willing it to happen again. And of course, it didn't. The ripped section just flopped there, teasing him.

He watched it fervently, but nothing happened. More frustrated than ever, he jammed the paper under his pallet so he wouldn't have to see it again and stalked off to train.

The next two days were the same, with him glaring at the paper until he needed to exhaust himself outrunning Juugo.

But the third day, Naruto tried something different. Instead of watching the paper, and feeling his temperature and anger rise in the process, he closed his eyes. He held out the sheet loosely in front of him, picturing it in his mind. And instead of focusing everything on the paper, he tried to remember what he was doing when it ripped.

He straightened out on the bed, laid very still and rigidly held the paper out in front of him. But eventually his breathing became more relaxed. His arms sagged a bit. He imagined the paper as a milky white square hovering over him. Then he pictured it slowly pulling apart, into two soft, floating rectangles. He stayed like that for so long — breathing and holding that image in his mind — he was certain that if he opened his eyes he would see two pieces.

A delicate tendril of wind laced around his ankles and ruffled his pant legs.

Naruto opened his eyes in excitement. But the wind stopped. And the paper hadn't changed.

Sullen, he closed his eyes and tried again. It took even longer but this time, when the slight breeze finally wound it's way around and up him, he forced himself to keep his eyes shut.

Naruto kept his focus on the wind, imagining that it was a tool, perfect for coaxing the tear open a little more…. He exhaled slowly, picturing the paper slowly giving way….

A whisper of tearing paper hit his ears. But Naruto realized he didn't need to see it to know it was happening. He could _feel_ it.

Excitement overcame him again, and he lost his focus on the wind before he could rip the paper completely in two. But as he stared at the paper, connected now only at the bottom, the two pieces waggling from front to back independent of each other, he knew he could do it. Just by grasping that basic thread of the idea, he knew he could figure it out.

He slid the paper gently under the pallet, eased back on to his bed, clasped his hands behind his head and smiled up at the ceiling.

Sasuke didn't miss the familiar expression on Naruto's face when he came in later.

"Make any progress?"

"Yeah," Naruto said cagily, even though the corner of his mouth was hitching up into a telling grin.

Sasuke watched him in quiet amusement, but when Naruto didn't offer any more, Sasuke just shrugged. "Good," he said, feeling more relieved than he cared to admit that Naruto might be acting like his old self again.

Naruto continued working until he had enough control to tear the paper in two on the first try. He decided immediately that he was not going to Orochimaru with the proof of his success, as the man had instructed. He didn't trust Orochimaru, and he didn't want anything that Kabuto was offering.

But he was even reluctant to share his news with Sasuke.

Watching Sasuke hang the long katana on the wall night after night had given Naruto another idea. He decided he'd come up with something new…a new weapon or a new jutsu…_something_ that proved he was moving ahead too. Only he was doing it his own way.

Feeling revved up for the first time in months, Naruto hopped out of bed in the morning, ready to work. Sasuke said nothing, but smiled to himself, glad that things felt like they were getting back to normal. He could go off to train without feeling guilty.

Naruto worked for hours each day perfecting his wind techniques, until he could tear and whip and bend the air in any manner he wanted. As long as he stayed still and concentrated.

Naruto learned that lesson the hard way. Early on he had tried to summon some extra force behind one of his jabs at Juugo. But the paltry cough of wind barely registered on the man, and Naruto was left wide open. Juugo knocked him clear across the room. After that, Naruto decided to perfect his technique before trying it again in combat.

So Naruto returned to the taijutsu room — the very place he had come to hate after his first weeks of solitary training. But now he saw it with fresh eyes. He ran through his standard training sets, just the way Kakashi had always drilled them, then attacked the wooden posts, dummies and training machines with renewed vigor.

And as he worked, he concentrated on pushing wind into his punches and kicks, and pushed all other distractions away. Instead of laying or sitting perfectly still, he tried to find the stillness inside. His body moved through his sets, but in his mind he saw the smooth, cool white square of paper, waiting to be torn.

And slowly he began to feel the force of the wind moving with his feet, swirling with his punches and bursting with his kunai and shurikens.

Sprawled out on the tatami mat after one particularly hard session, Naruto finally felt like he'd done it. Sweat stuck to his head in yellow spikes, his knuckles were bloody and the pads of his feet were throbbing, but his weapons had sunk deeper into the training post than they'd ever been before.

Naruto breathed deeply. He felt like he'd mastered his element. He _was_ a wind user.

And that success did a funny thing to him inside. As hard as it was, mastering his element only made him yearn for more.

He idly wondered what could he do with his wind nature? Funnel it like a tornado? Wrap it around his weapons? Maybe he could get a great fan like that girl from the Sand…. No, he wanted something that was his own._ Something that no one else had…._

He immediately thought of the kyuubi. His curse. _Yeah, nobody else had that. _

But maybe he could turn it into something special. Like a _signature _move.

Naruto stirred with the idea. He sat up, remembering Orochimaru saying something about charging the wind with chakra.

_Well…he had plenty of that didn't he? That's why he was a jinchurriki in the first place. Maybe that would be his thing…. _

Naruto puddled chakra in his hand, the way he did to his feet when he was trying to climb a tree. Then he summoned a wind. The blue chakra wrapped around his fist in a malicious swirl, nicking his hand with a thousand tiny blades.

"Ow-ow-owww!" But instead of releasing it, he quickly hopped to his feet and threw a short jab at the wooden post. Tiny splinters rained down from the back of the post.

"Coo-ool!" He cradled his injured hand, which was quickly beginning to feel like that splintered post. But inspecting the damage he'd inflicted, eyes bright in the darkness, Naruto's mind began to leap ahead with ideas.

He quickly discovered that by keeping the chakra on his body, he sustained some of the injury. But if he could push it into a weapon, then it could carry much more force.

Shurikens, charged with chakra and whipped with wind, bit chunks off the post with each strike. Kunai ripped into the wood, nearly tearing through it.

Running his hand over the sharp points protruding from the back of the post, it didn't take long for Naruto to realize that if he could harness the energy, without having to channel it into an object, then he would never be unarmed. His chakra would be his own weapon.

Naruto experimented with chakra forms and wind techniques, shaping it into slicing daggers or thin needles like senbons. But they were hard to control and lost their shape the longer they were in the air.

The wind naturally wanted to spiral. So…he let it. Then he added his chakra, letting it suck up the blue energy like a funnel cloud. He looked at the swirling mass in his hand, impressed. The gyrating motion kept it aloft, however it was quickly loosing speed.

Naruto hurriedly threw it. But the energy dispersed on impact and wrapped around the post like steam.

He tried again, this time summoning a clone to keep it moving. The timing wasn't perfect, and sometimes it looked like a plate or a bowl or a top. But it kept spinning. And that's what mattered.

Naruto glanced at the yellow head bobbing next to him, suddenly surprised.

After a few moments, the clone panted. "Uh, like this, boss?" He screwed up his identical face to look at the original.

Naruto simply stared back, as if he wasn't sure what he was seeing.

The clone did not look like him. Or the _him_ that he remembered. The yellow hair was shaggier, and the face was longer…and definitely more pale. And the clothes were dirty, worn out and ragged on the edges.

Naruto looked down, surprised that these were in fact his own clothes. There were no mirrors down here, so he simply hadn't noticed. He frowned lightly, mind wandering….

_If this much has changed here, I wonder what's different back home—_

"Yeeow!" Distracted, Naruto's fingers had relaxed and curled too close to the spinning ball. "Yeah," he grunted, clutching his wrist and forcing his palm to stay flat. "Yeah, like that."

The clone whirled it a few more times until Naruto said, "Ok…now!"

The clone stepped back and Naruto winged the disc-shaped chakra at the post. It flipped around as it hurtled, impacting the beam on it's flat side and shattering like a plate on the wood.

Blue shards of chakra scattered before evaporating into the air. Which was better than just disappearing like mist, Naruto told himself bracingly…until he realized the wood was slowly toppling backwards like a felled tree. It crashed with a hollow thud that vibrated through the tatami mats.

Naruto stood blinking in the center of the room. Blow-back ruffled his shaggy yellow bangs. The corners of his mouth slowly curled up into a beaming smile, and his blue eyes practically glowed.

* * *

><p>"So what are we here for Naruto."<p>

"You'll see," he said to Sasuke as he motioned for the men to open the door to Juugo's cell.

Naruto entered, ignoring the snarling rage from the darkened corner, followed by Sasuke, Orochimaru, and Kabuto.

When the last two came in, Juugo ceased his growling and choked out what was almost like a wimper, a sound Naruto had never heard from him before. Kabuto snapped for one of the men to wake him up.

Jittering, the man went toward the darkness, pike extended in front of him, poking at air, until he disappeared. Then with a yowl of pain, the man came running out of the dark, followed by an enraged Juugo.

Naruto quickly caught his attention while the other three observers stepped back against the far wall. The man threw himself out the door, shutting it behind him.

Juugo circled around for Naruto, swiping and kicking in ever more complex moves. He had adopted Naruto's skills over the past year, and threw them back at Naruto whenever he could.

But Naruto wasn't interested in taijutsu. Not today.

He dodged a blow and quickly sprung up the wall to angled darkness at the ceiling. Juugo snarled at him, hating that spot from previous encounters, and Naruto seemed to oblige him by dropping back down to to the stone floor.

Juugo chased after the infuriatingly nimble kid, who always stayed one step ahead, until they came full circle and he was turned around facing the wall again. Naruto darted back up, and while Juugo was following him with his eyes, two more identical Naruto's stepped down out of the shadow. The third copy, the one he'd been chasing, popped halfway up the wall. His smoke was swept into the swirling blue mass that the Naruto in front was just pulling out from behind him.

Juugo's yellow eyes were fixed on it, the light illuminated all of his grotesque deformities.

"Now!" The clone pulled back, and the real Naruto launched from the wall, legs bending beneath him and a plate of spinning energy arcing over head in his hand. With the force of a punch, Naruto pounded the disc into the center of Juugo's body, sending him sprawling back into the dark corner of his cavernous cell. He scraped himself up, wimpering, but he did not come out again.

Naruto straightened, releasing the clone that still clung to the wall, then turned to his audience.

Kabuto's stared in awe. Orochimaru's mouth slanted up in a greedy pleasure.

And on the end, Sasuke fixed him with a tight smile that equal parts esteem and jealousy. "How long have you had that up your sleeve, dobe?"

Naruto laughed, and Sasuke's smile suffused his features with a warmth they did not often have. Naruto felt like he'd conquered many obstacles today, the least of which was beginning to grumble from the back of the cell.

"Shall we go, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru said, holding out his sleeved arm in front of startled Kabuto. Naruto smirked up at the arrogant medic as he and Sasuke passed, but Kabuto quickly shoved his glasses up his nose, radiating unconcern as hard as possible.

"Naruto-kun," Orochimaru drawled, his velvety voice filling the corridor, "you have improved so much. I can see now why Sasuke-kun chose you." He raked a glance over Naruto before turning back to Sasuke. "The only thing that would make this day better would be to see you two…together…."

Naruto looked stricken.

Orochimaru laughed throatily. "In the sparring room, of course."

At the thought of going up against Sasuke, Naruto felt all his gains evaporate.

He didn't know if he could beat Sasuke. He thought so…_maybe_….

Naruto knew it was cowardly, but he didn't want to discover that, after all this work, Sasuke might still be able to beat him.

"No," Sasuke said firmly. Naruto looked back, surprised. "It wouldn't do either of us any good," Sasuke continued. "I have too much going on right now. And, from the looks of it, so does Naruto."

Naruto looked back at Sasuke, his blues eyes clear and wide. Sasuke's recognition of his efforts had set a curl of pride unfurling within him.

Secretly, Sasuke didn't want to beat him and send him back to reconsidering his choice every night. And even deeper still was the real possibility that Naruto just might be able to take him.

Sasuke cleared his throat. "Neither of us would benefit," he said with finality.

Naruto nodded quickly. "Yes, neither of us would…you know, benefit. Besides, we have nothing to fight over!" Naruto's weak laughter at his own joke guttered out in the silence.

Orochimaru shrugged delicately. "Hmmm…. Perhaps another day, then…." But he continued to watch the two boys with a dangerous gleam in his eye.

###

From then on, everything changed.

Naruto and Sasuke worked in tandem, improving and perfecting their skills. And when it became clear that Naruto no longer needed to spar with Juugo, Sasuke took him to see some of Kabuto's other "men."

Sasuke always skipped over the uglier details of why the men were imprisoned there, because he knew Naruto would never ignore their injustices, real or imagined. And the last thing he needed was to galvanize Naruto's sense of right and wrong and have him start a riot.

Sasuke promised Naruto he'd go up against men with different techniques from other countries. Which he did. Most of it was useful…but some of it was truly barbaric. However, all of it, Sasuke reminded him, made them better shinobis.

"You know, we're learning stuff we never would have learned if we'd stayed in Konoha," Sasuke said one night after he'd gotten into his bed.

Naruto shrugged quietly from his bed. He thought Sasuke was glossing over it. Sure they were learning a lot of things they'd never been exposed to in Konoha, but not all of it was good. And that weighed on him….

"I'm glad you're here Naruto," Sasuke said suddenly into the darkness. "I couldn't have done this alone."

Sasuke sounded so earnest and…un-Sasuke like. Naruto knew he was telling the truth. It tugged at him, and he gave into that encompassing warmth of being needed. "Yeah," he breathed. "I'm glad I came too. It's all been…" he hesitated, searching for an accurate word. "Uh…fun," he finished lamely.

Sasuke snorted at Naruto's obvious fib, but didn't hold it against him. Naruto chuckled too at being caught and rolled over in his bed. He smiled at the cracks he knew were in the wall, even though he couldn't see them in the dark. _This must be what true friendship is…._

So they fought and trained and ignored the unsavory aspects of their life with Orochimaru. And each night, Sasuke would tell Naruto thanks, that he couldn't have done it without him. And for Naruto, that bond made all the other troubling facts of their life sink into the background. They were in it together.

And through those dark days of training, moving from hideout to hideout, slipping into foreign lands, and dealing some of the most heinous jutsus imaginable, Naruto thought their bond was unshakeable. And at that moment, it was….

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: <strong>Thanks so much for all the reviews, faves and alerts. Just a little hint of Sakura in this chapter. Next one will focus on her. It was fun writing about Naruto's element. Naruto's fairly self-reliant in the manga. Jiraiya, Kakashi provide minimal instruction, then Naruto just works hard until he figures it out. So the same thing is happening here. He gets a little bit of instruction, but really it's his own motivation that drives him. So hopefully he's not too far ooc, even though he's instructing himself. Also hope Orochimaru is creepy enough! :) He's such a manipulator, in everything he does. Hope that came across. So, please read and review. Next chapter, back to Sakura!


	6. Sakura's Journey

**Chapter 6 - Sakura's Journey**

Sakura dragged the back of her dirty glove across her forehead, smoothing back her sweat-tipped bangs.

She smiled toothily at the mess in front of her. Plumes of dust clouded the training field…or what used to be the training field. But she could still hear Tsunade's praise from far beyond the wreckage.

"Excellent, Sakura! Excellent!"

Sakura leapt nimbly over the ruptured earth to where they stood. Only a small circle of land — the ground beneath the Hokage's feet — was left untouched. Now it rose in a lone spire over the destruction. Sakura dropped out of the dust cloud and landed in a controlled squat in front of Tsunade, Shizune and Kakashi.

Dusting herself off as if she had just come in from the store, Sakura rose to smile proudly at her three teachers, mentors, friends. She couldn't help it. It was an official viewing of the product of her training, and today she'd outdone herself.

They beamed back at her.

"I couldn't have done it better myself," Tsunade said warmly. Shizune chimed in that Sakura "would be filling Tsunade-sama's shoes in no time!"

Kakashi laughed nervously. "I-I don't know that the village can handle two such women."

Tsunade and Shizune laughed at him. They hadn't missed the look of terror on his face when Sakura started chewing up the earth with her fists.

Sakura bowed deeply. "Thank you. I feel like I've come so far."

The past two-and-a-half years had been a period of remarkable growth for Sakura. Under Kakashi's tutorship she had become an excellent shinobi. And under Tsunade's mentorship she had become a stellar medic. Both of those skills set her apart from almost every other nin in Konoha. But to gild her accomplishments even further, Tsunade taught her how to channel her chakra into a whirlwind of destruction.

Sakura's fingers could heal wounds, reconnecting torn tissue and ligaments with a featherlight touch. But her fists could pinpoint a sleeping fissure in the ground and jolt it awake with a single blow, tearing a crack through the earth like a lightning bolt in any direction she chose.

She was a force to be reckoned with. And everyone knew it.

The dust clouds around them had settled enough for Sakura to feel the sun warm on her shoulders. Tsunade smiled proudly, and Sakura felt it in her bones.

"There is nothing more I can teach you," Tsunade said, amber eyes shining. "There is always more to learn, but that is for you to experience. And nothing can make a teacher prouder than to see her student take to wing."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Sakura bowed again, swept up in the emotion that her teacher rarely displayed.

"Now, can you take us down from here," she asked, her lips hooking into a smirk at the veiled opportunity for another display of prowess that was sure to rattle Kakashi.

Sakura grinned and raised her hands in front of her to concentrate her chakra. Kakashi tipped his head, the question clear in his eyes, wondering what she was about to do—

Sakura slammed her heel down into the earthen platform and sent it plummeting. The edges of Tsunade's green coat ruffled around her and Shizune gripped Ton-Ton a little tighter, but neither flinched.

Kakakshi, however, squealed in wide-eyed panic. Sakura kept her gaze pinned on Kakashi, even as her hair flipped around her face and the ground fractured and folded beneath them in a series of controlled cascades that brought them hurtling back to the ground.

The dais of land settled onto the crumbled training field, which was now significantly lower than when they stepped out onto it earlier that morning. A cloud of dust puffed out from its base as slowly came to rest.

Kakashi coughed. "I think it scared Ton-Ton." Then he coughed again to cover the feminine laughter that had erupted around him.

Walking back through Konoha's sun-drenched streets, Sakura couldn't have wiped the smile off her face if she tried.

A band of genin skittered by and shouted breathless hellos. An anbu corps nodded respectfully as they passed.

Though it happened often, the flattery of being noticed was still not lost on her. Although, in some ways, she knew it was to be expected.

Iruka often invited her to his class to demonstrate the power of chakra when wielded by an expert. The chubby round faces of the young students, awash in the green glow from her hands, would light up with amazement. And later, when she saw them in the village, they would watch her with admiration.

A few girls even bravely approached to tell her that they wanted to be like her one day. Sakura knew how they felt. She must have looked the same when she stared up at Tsunade all those years ago. So she repeated to them what Tsunade had told her. The top-secret, has-to-be-whispered, this-is-only-for-you message of "You can do it." They left elated, like they'd been handed a secret weapon.

Sakura's own classmates, now grown shinobis and each powerful in their own right, would often ask her to accompany them on missions as a fourth member. She brought chakra prowess and medical expertise to the squad that was second to none.

And even the anbu had taken notice. More than once she had been tapped to provide back-up on their secretive missions, waiting in the shadows in case someone was hurt. And it had been worth it. The first time out she saved the life of a nin who otherwise wouldn't have made it back.

She was so popular in fact, Tsunade was considering assigning her a team to train as med-nins to accompany every group that went out. A bona fide medic corp. Shinobis with benefits, Tsunade had laughingly said. And Sakura beamed with pride. Now she divided her time between the training field and the hospital.

Everything was going her way. Enjoying the glorious morning, Sakura turned down a shaded lane without thinking, her feet beating the path of an old short cut.

She smiled up at the flock of birds that suddenly took to the air, moving as one over the road. Her shinobi life had turned out like she hoped it would. Better, in fact—

"Ohayo Sakura! Care for a bite to eat?"

Sakura stumbled, an awful realization crashing down on her with the sound of that voice…a voice from her past. Glancing around, she knew exactly where she was before her eyes even had time to confirm the awful truth.

She was on a narrow little side road she never took now. And for good reason. Wedged between two larger, newer buildings was an old hovel of a shop. A relic in the old style of wood beams and latticed corners, it beckoned weakly with its shabby lanterns and worn fabric flags. It had rooted itself to the ground, and there it stood, immoveable, not matter how many new buildings sprouted up around it.

To everyone else it was Ichiraku's Ramen Stand. To Sakura, it was a wound that would never heal.

Sakura never went this way. She never went anywhere near this _road_. But, she thought with a sigh, she didn't want old man Teuchi to know that.

The old cook peered beyond the fabric flaps, his forehead wrinkling with a hope. He looked older. Had it really been two years since she'd seen him last? No it was closer to three….

Sakura ignored the knot in her stomach and forced the bright smile to back to her face. "I wish I could, Teuchi-san, but I don't have time today."

He nodded as if he knew the answer. Sakura instantly felt guilty.

"Any news?"

The wind picked up. A swirl of road dust rose into the air. And suddenly it was three years ago. And she was sobbing at the counter, not knowing why she was there, but feeling like she needed to be around something that was Naruto's. It was a moment of weakness. She knew she was looking for someone who would never be there again.

But Teuchi pushed a steaming bowl of ramen in front of her. "Here. Eat. It'll make you feel better. On the house." Then he bustled off to wait on other customers.

So she ate and she cried. And it did make her feel a little better.

When she was nearly done, Teuchi came back by. "See? Feel better?"

She nodded, wiping her face. She didn't want to appear ungrateful.

"He'll come back Sakura. You'll see. All his life he's done the stupidest thing imaginable." Sakura laughed. "But he turned out to be an alright kid. His heart's in the right place." Teuchi stopped to wipe the counter. "He sure has made a mess of things though," he said quietly. "Now he's got to figure it all out for himself."

He went quiet and Sakura looked up to find Teuchi dashing tears away from his eyes. "But you'll see, Sakura. He may be knucklehead, but eventually he'll come to his senses. Then he'll be right back here eating me out of ramen! Just like before!"

Sakura smiled through her tears. It felt good to hear someone still believe in Naruto. It helped her to believe too.

But that was years ago.

The dust settled, and she was alone in the road, staring at the heavy strings of sun-bleached flags on the sagging building.

Between the flaps, Teuchi watched her, but the lines of his face were drooping as his hope faded.

Sakura was seized by a desire to tell him something, anything, even if it was a lie. Teuchi was so kind, to still believe in Naruto after all this time, and he didn't deserve this. But there was nothing she could say.

Sakura shook her head slowly. "No. No news."

He frowned, nodded his head and wiped the counter.

Sakura looked at the ground. Her long, curving shadow stretched away from her. She was so different than she was just a few years ago. Older and taller, stronger and more confident. She had even chopped off her long hair to prove it. She was sick of seeing the past every time she looked in the mirror.

Now, she didn't just see things differently…. She _was_ different.

"He'll be back! You'll see! Don't give up hope!"

Sakura snapped her attention back, and instantly wished she didn't see his Teuchi's shining with unshed tears. It reignited the anger at Naruto that she had long since banked.

More customers ducked under the flaps, so she was mercifully spared a response. Forcing a bright smile, she quickly waved farewell.

Escaping out of the narrow lane, Sakura swore she'd never to go down there again.

Naruto and Sasuke had been gone for so long without a word. A sign. Anything. She didn't think they'd return. But now she no longer wished for it.

Sakura abandoned hope for Sasuke in the first few months. His stubborn persistence was near legendary. When she learned of the headbands stabbed to the tree, proclaiming his intention to defect from the Leaf, she believed it.

But it took a lot longer to let go of Naruto. And perhaps, if she were honest with herself, she never did. It still stung just to hear his name. The betrayal was still so fresh….

Sakura turned back into the broad, sunlit avenue. But this time she barely saw it. The anger that had carried her through the last three years simmered in front of her, burning off the memories, cauterizing those old wounds that never seemed to heal.

Let Teuchi or anyone else believe what they wanted. They weren't there that night, they didn't hear what was said. Only she did, and she would never forget. She didn't want to. She used it to grow stronger.

Sakura knew she wasn't useless or a bad teammate or a dead weight. And she never was. They were just selfish, stupid children.

And if she had it to do over again, she'd beat them senseless.

Sakura pounded her fist into her palm. She regained purpose in her stride. This was her life now. The one she had chosen. She had responsibilities and people who depended on her. And she had wasted enough time thinking about the ones who ran away from theirs.

She turned down a brightly lit street toward the hospital and let the thoughts of her old teammates just float away, forgotten.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes:<strong>

Thanks for the reviews, faves and alerts. Lots of updates lately right? Trying to catch up since it's been a while. For this chapter, didn't spend as much time on Sakura's training as I'm sure lots of Sakura fans would have liked, but it's not because I don't love her. Her story is just easier to tell because she didn't go off the deep end like Naruto did. Next chapter...a reunion! ;) Can't wait! Please read and review!


	7. Closing In

**Chapter 7 - Closing In**

Sakura tore down the darkened hallway. Lanterns flickered and smoked in her wake. Another darkened turn. Another empty corridor. The place was an underground labyrinth of tunnels and rooms, none of which showed signs of life. She sped on, sweat beading at her temples in spite of the chilled air.

Another whiplash turn. Another empty corridor. She pushed on. Maybe Ino and the rest of her team were having better luck—

She careened around another corner just in time to catch a slant of light disappear into nothingness. A door was closing at the end of the tunnel. She barreled right for it.

Sakura yanked hard on the door, then pressed her ear to it to listen. It was damp and cool against her ear. She held her breath. Far away, another door slammed shut.

_Dammit! They're getting away!_

As part a team of Konoha nins hired by the Grass country to get to the bottom of the kidnappings plaguing their land, Sakura helped Team 10 interview the few men who escaped. They told of captives and experiments and beasts in the night. Although it sounded like the realm of ghost stories, Sakura felt sympathy for the men. Their fear, at least, was real, even if the tales sounded too fantastical to be true. Especially coming from the sleepy lowlands of the Grass region.

But closer inspection of a rock tipped up at an odd-angle at the base of a tree had them rethinking everything they'd believed. Beneath the rock, a narrow stone stairway disappeared into the darkness. At the bottom of the steps, with only their flashlights stabbing through the black, the team realized they'd stumbled an underground complex like nothing they'd ever seen before.

A massive labyrinth of dripping tunnels and cave-like rooms stretched out in almost every direction. It stunk of must and and dirt, and made Sakura's stomach turn. But when they pushed back a heavy door onto a room with shackles and chains, discarded syringes and empty medical vials, Sakura's disgust steeled itself to resolve.

What the men had said was true, and Sakura and Team 10 wanted nothing more than to haul whoever had done this up into the light.

The farther in they went, the more signs of disarray they found, until they realized they were only moments behind the people responsible for these atrocities. The four split up, hoping to cast a wider net.

It worked. Sakura followed her hunch that they were trying to sneak out a back door. So she ran through the tunnels until the slope changed she felt like she was tipping up to the surface again.

The air smelled singed from flickering lamplight. Someone had passed through recently. And when she caught the distant clap of a slammed door, she knew she was hard on their trail.

But now her momentum had ground to a halt. A single closed door stood in the way of the catching them.

Sakura jerked the old handle and heaved her shoulder against the damp planks. But it wouldn't budge. She was loosing precious time, she had to get through—

Sakura tightened her glove. She knew she'd be giving herself away, but she had no choice.

She hauled back her fist and let it fly into the tunnel wall with every ounce of chakra she could muster. Stone chunks exploded away from her fist and flew in every direction. A shuddering rumble answered her blast as the roof of the corridors and rooms beyond caved in. Thick clouds of debris rolled upwards into the newly formed crater.

The door swung lamely open on its hinges now the wall that it was once locked to was smashed to pieces. Sparing a moment to smirk at her handiwork, Sakura pushed the door back dashed through the rubble. Another wall crumbled nearby, spattering dust and pebbles across her legs.

But beyond the din were voices. Distant, but she heard them. _Maybe she could still catch them…._

Sakura scrambled through the debris, past chunks of walls and scattered medical equipment and into the enveloping clouds.

Dust stung her eyes and burned her lungs, but she kept going, breathing shallow and listening hard, until she was out into the opening where the roof had collapsed. Patches of sky were peeked through the grey clouds—

A tunnel caved in beside her, hitting her with a thick wave of debris. Dust coated her mouth and nose, choking her. Sakura could go no further. She dropped to her knees, coughing and clutching her throat—

"What the hell was that?"

"Just a little mouse."

The voices were somewhere in the haze above her. Sakura was trying desperately not to cough when another thought came to her…one that she had long ago trained herself against…. What if…. What if….

"A mouse?!" the first voice laughed loudly. "The sounded more like a herd of elephants!"

Sakura's eyes went huge. There was no doubt. _She knew that voice._

Sakura blinked up into the receding clouds, trying to see in spite of the blinding grit in her eyes. Tears welled at the pain. But even with blurred vision Sakura could still make out four outlines in the haze, standing above her at the edge of the crater.

She opened her mouth to call out, but doubt seized her, stopping her cold.

_What if she called and they just laughed at her? What if they didn't want her, all over again?_

Her eyes burned like they were on fire. She crushed them closed and hot tears slid out of the corners.

_It was a chance she'd have to take._

Eyes closed, she was about to scream "Stop" or "Wait" or something, _anything_—

When another voice smoothly intoned, "There's nothing more for us here. Let's go."

An enormous cloud of dust exploded down into the crater, nearly blasting Sakura backwards. They had transported and covered their actions in a repelling jutsu that went off like a wind-bomb in their wake.

Sakura grasped the ground for purchase as the wind whipped her hair against her face and the fresh dust choked her.

She doubled over, hacking hard. Tears streamed down her face. She pushed her forehead to the ground trying to get control, but every raspy breath sent her into another fit of spasmodic coughing.

Sakura pounded her head lightly against the ground. But the tears that scalded her cheeks were no longer in response to the pain.

She felt like a failure. Again. Instead of stopping them, she'd let them get away.

This was how Ino and her team found her in the moments after the blast. They had all come running through the black corridors, following the sound and the dust and the light, till it opened up onto the ruin of a room with Sakura curled over on herself in the middle of it.

Ino was the first to reach her. "Sakura! Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

Sakura dragged an arm down her face, streaking wet tracks through the grime. She nodded weakly.

Even Ino coughed as she helped her to stand. Shikamaru and Choji were right behind her.

"I can see your handiwork here," Shikamaru said wryly, looking around the room once he was certain Sakura was uninjured. "Wh-What is this place?"

In unison, they studied the wreckage around them.

The dust was settling and light streamed into the hole, probably the first sunlight that had ever touched the subterranean lair. Details of the rooms and chambers slowly came forward out of the far edges of the darkness. More labs and barred cells. Chains hung from walls, and liquid containment units oozed sap-like substances through their shattered hulls. But there were no one signs of life.

"So it was all true? What those guys were saying?" Chouji rubbed a hand across neck. "Yeesh, I'd hate to be stuck down here. No wonder they were all half-crazy."

His words stung Sakura. Questions ran through her mind, making her dizzy and sick.

_Was this really where they lived? A torture chamber and a nightmarish medical lab? Were they now captives too, having experiments performed on them? Or were they honored guests, letting the torture of innocent men go on beneath their noses, without lifting a hand to stop it?_

Sakura didn't like the answers she found. If they _knew_ what was going on here, then they had grown up into very different people than the teammates she knew as a child.

Shikamaru tipped his head up to the cracked edge of the crater. It looked like torn paper against the bright blue sky. "So…. Did you see anything Sakura?"

When she didn't answer, Shikamaru turned to look at her. Ino, still holding her elbow, studied her face with concern.

_What if she was wrong…._

Sakura dropped her gaze to the ground. She cleared her throat.

"No," she said quietly. "I didn't see anything."

_It must be another layer of weakness, to protect them in even the remotest way after everything they'd done…. But if she was wrong, then she would be adding 'wanted criminals' to their status as nukenins. And she just couldn't be certain…. _

Shikamaru nodded, as if he suspected as much. Ino nodded sympathetically before leaving her to make an inspection for their report.

The implicit trust of her friends made Sakura feel even worse. They would never suspect her of lying.

Team 10 didn't question her silence at the campfire, or trouble her about her reticence the next day when they returned their findings to the Grass Country daimyo. They all knew the pain of close calls and failed efforts. They left Sakura to cope in peace.

But Sakura grappled with deeper disappointments. In herself. In _them_.

It seemed an insurmountable chasm until she remembered she wasn't alone in this. She _was_ still part of a team. Her _own_ team.

_He'd know what to do._

* * *

><p>When Kakashi saw Sakura standing in his doorway, he was instantly transported back a few years. Gone was the fierce shinobi who tore up the ground with her fist or healed with her fingertips.<p>

She had been replaced with the girl he knew before, heartbroken and defeated and left to pick up the pieces of her shattered team.

Sakura sagged against his doorframe, looking tissue-paper thin. Her face was pale, her hair was dusty and the salty tracks of tears were still visible on her cheeks.

His stomach twisted in his gut.

"What's wrong?"

Sakura blinked, trying to find the words.

Kakashi supplied them for her. "You saw them, didn't you?"

Her bottom lip trembled. "I-I'm not sure, but I think…." She blew out a shaky breath. "Yeah. It was them."

Her strength left her. Her chin crumpled, and her eyes brimmed with tears. She shook her head to speak, but only got out "I… I…" before Kakashi took her hand and guided her in.

She sat on the futon and explained what happened while Kakashi made them two cups of tea.

"Did anyone else see them," he asked, pushing the small cup into her clutched fingers. The steam wound up into her face. She sniffed at it and started to relax.

"No. Just me. I thought…. I thought I heard…_Naruto._" She whispered his name like that would make it hurt less. It didn't. More tears slipped down.

Kakashi took a slow sip of tea, letting her gather her thoughts. She'd finally gotten to the heart of the problem.

Sakura sniffled. "I couldn't say anything. All this time, I thought when I saw them, I'd be stronger. I'd catch them single-handedly and I'd force them to stay." Her voice cracked at the end. "But I couldn't do anything. It was just like before," she said bitterly. She raised the cup to her lips.

But Kakashi smiled and set the cup on the low table. This he could help her with.

"No Sakura," he said, turning to look at her. "It's not like before. _You_ are different. It was just the shock of the first time seeing them. But now that's over with. One little surprise doesn't undo the changes. When they see _you_ again, they won't even recognize you. You've grown so powerful—" He smiled so earnestly it crinkled the corners of his eyes. "You are one of the finest Konoha shinobis that I've ever known."

Sakura gave him a wobbly smile. He nodded, grinning big. She took another sip of tea, this time actually tasting it, before setting it on the table too.

"You'll have them shaking in their shoes," he added.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said, the warmth of the tea and the compliment putting color back into her cheeks.

They spoke more about the details of the mission, the men's stories and what her team had discovered. Kakashi nodded, aligning it with other with other whisperings he'd heard as well as some classified data from years ago, when Sakura set her empty cup on the table. She had to go.

Kakashi stood with her. "So, you're sure no one else saw them, from another angle?"

"No." She was firm.

Kakashi smiled to himself. The powerful shinobi had returned.

"And you told no one about it," he added.

"No." But this time, she hesitated. "Do you…do you think I did the right thing? I mean, they could be captives as well, waiting for us to rescue them…." She cut her eyes to the side, revealing that even she didn't believe that idea. "Or they could be the ones doing the torturing—"

"We cannot know the truth. At least, not yet. But we will." Kakashi smiled into her face, lending her his confidence where hers flagged. There were precious few times he could still be her sensei, but this was one of them.

"You did the right thing, Sakura. Telling anyone else would have incriminated them both, regardless of the truth of their situation."

Sakura shrugged. "I just thought I might have been wrong about who it was…." Her voice thinned, and Kakashi read between the lines.

"But you don't think you were?" He looked at her knowingly.

"No," Sakura said with a deep sigh. "I'd know _his_ stupid voice anywhere."

Kakashi nodded sympathetically. He didn't have children, and didn't think he ever would. Sarutobi had tried to push him into being a sort of surrogate parent to Naruto, but Kakashi had been too young and independent to take responsibility for a child's upbringing. But looking back, he wondered now that maybe if he'd tried harder, none of this would have happened—

That's why he promised himself to make a change with Sakura. He had one chance left to do right by these kids, and he wasn't going to screw this one up.

And sometimes, like now, he saw Sakura almost as a daughter.

He stopped her in the doorway and put a hand on her shoulder

"This was the first time. There's always a first time for everything," he said, looking into her clear green eyes. "And it's _never_ what you expect it to be. But now it's over. And when the next time rolls around, you'll be ready for it."

Sakura took it all in, then squared her shoulders. "Thanks, Kakashi-sensei. That makes me feel a lot better."

She turned to go, but stopped, turned back and grinned. There was a mischievous twinkle in her eye. "That was good advice…. Did that come from one of your books?"

She pointed to the dog-eared romance novel sticking out of his pocket.

His cheeks pinked a little but he laughed and tapped on his temple before shooing her off.

He leaned against his doorway and watched her go. At the corner, she turned and waved. He waved back, smiling brightly.

But as soon as she was out of sight, the smile disappeared. He closed the door behind him, strode out the back door and launched to the roof, then fairly flew straight to the Hokage's office.

Tsunade blinked up at Kakashi, her amber eyes narrowing. "And she's certain—"

"Yes. It was them. She was sure of it."

Tsunade studied Kakashi's face without seeing it. She was weighing all the possibilities…and the consequences. Both of them knew how serious this was.

Tsuande swore, then rose from her chair to stand at the window. She bit her ed thumbnail in thought.

"If you think there's something you can do," she said finally, turning back to him, "then do it. Because if the council gets wind of this, it's a death sentence…. Well, for one of them. But it will be worse for Naruto." She muttered bitterly as she signed a scroll. "Those damn kids…. They don't know what they've done…."

She dashed off a scroll and handed it to Kakashi relieving him of his active duty.

"Inspect the compound. If it truly is a medical lab, look for signs of Orochimaru and Kabuto." Kakashi nodded curtly at each command, confirming his suspicions as well, and pocketed the scroll. "Those kids aren't alone. They're being helped. And if they are with my old teammate, I want to know what he plans on doing with them."

Kakashi bowed and raised two fingers to leave, but Tsunade's voice stopped him.

"Kakashi, Danzo's on the hunt." She peered at him seriously. "Find them first, otherwise my hands are tied."

Kakashi nodded and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

><p>Of course, Kakashi was right. The next day, she did feel better.<p>

But that first night home, Sakura stared up into the darkness, worrying that she would loose all the ground she'd gained. That her show of weakness would somehow spread like a poison, stealing in and taking over. And that the life she'd worked so hard for would be lost.

But the sun came up, and her life continued. And in that normalcy of her day-to-day life, she realized she truly had changed. It still hurt knowing how close she'd come to her old teammates, but the pain did not linger as long as she thought it would.

And when Tsunade assigned her to more missions in the weeks and months after that encounter, Sakura accepted them with more confidence than ever. She applied herself to her tasks with the same strength and resilience she'd come to rely in the three years since they'd left.

She shook off her worries. She worked hard at the hospital saving lives. And she trained hard at the sparring grounds so she could take lives if she must.

It was exactly as Kakashi had said. The first time was behind her. And she knew if she saw them again, she'd be ready for it.

Sakura's missions beyond the walls were stated as standard ones. Patrolling the Fire Country borders and dipping into the territories for reconnaissance work. She was to accompany the teams or anbu squads in case they encountered an attack.

But Sakura knew there was more than what was written on the mission scroll.

The territories had always been wild and lawless. It was the home to roving bands of thugs and bandits, and the hiding place of rogue nins. But lately there was another cause for concern in these reckless lands, and it was sowing the seeds of distrust among the five great shinobi nations.

There had been attacks in the night, mysterious and vicious, and most often targeting nins. There were no accurate accounts to go on, only rumors, as no country would ever admit to being weak enough to attack or disclose how far their shinobis were from their own borders.

But the reports were enough to set the wheels of power slowly turning. Countries grew suspicious of their neighbors. And now the once-sleepy territories had become a deadly proving grounds for nins, as more and more were sent to monitor their perceived enemies and determine the truth: Were these attacks merely isolated events…or was it the spark that might ignite a war?

So Sakura was sent with the teams to scout and watch and listen.

But more often than not, they had nothing to report.

They did come across some bandits, but these men were easily identified by their clomping footsteps and loud voices. The Konoha shinobis crouched in the dark treetops like birds and watched the men pass right beneath them. They never once looked up to see the light glinting off the bared kunais.

Sakura herself had a close encounter late one night. Sitting in the vee of a branch, Sakura had staked out a well-trod footpath until her eyelids were drooping. She had just refocused on the flattened stretch of ground beneath her when a careful padding sound hit her ears. Something creeping so softly, under the deepest cover of night, could only belong to hunting wolves…or shinobis.

Sakura held her breath and watched…and sure enough, a lone shinobi stepped out. Sakura didn't move, but the nin must have sensed something was amiss. He froze. Listened. Smelled. Then he scanned the canopy.

Sakura's heart pounded in her ears. She soundlessly regripped the handle of the kunai in her lap and waited, telling herself to trust in the deep shadow that covered her. She knew he couldn't see her. All she had to do was remain calm, silent and still—

He tipped his face up and looked straight at her, peering into the darkness where she sat. Her first thought was he didn't look like a shinobi. His eyes were furtive and black and darted ceaselessly. Like an animals' eyes. His movements were twitchy. Nervous.

Thin moonlight dappled his face, and Sakura saw he was haggard and unshaven, with deep wells under his eyes. He had been moving a long time and needed sleep. The angle of his cheekbones protruded a little too much. He hadn't eaten well in a while either.

She squinted, hoping he would turn his face just a little more so she could make out the insignia on his ragged headband, but when he did, Sakura almost gave herself away with a gasp.

A jagged cut ran through the Stone country symbol on his forehead. He was a nukenin. A rogue. A defector. He was running not because he was in enemy territory, but because he was hunted. Everyone was his enemy.

Deciding he was still safe, he swung his head back to the trail and ran on, making only the slightest footfalls as he disappeared into the darkness.

Sakura blew out a breath and sank back against the tree. Studing the silver edge of the kunai blade in her lap, she wondered just what kind of lives her old teammates were living now.

_Is this…is this what they look like? Are they worn out and exhausted, hunted and half-starved? Is this the life of a rogue nin? Having to always stay one step ahead of your own country who would execute you for treachery, or other countries who would squeeze any secrets from you before ending you?_

She watched the path, her thoughts in turmoil. She didn't need to worry about sleep now, even though nothing more happened on the path in the hours before sunrise than an appearance by a nervous rabbit. It stopped once, nibbled on grass while its ears twitched in every direction, then moved on.

So when Sakura was assigned to Team 8 to help patrol the deeply forested territories beyond their southern border, she didn't expect to see much action. There hadn't even been reports of trouble from these sparsely-populated areas, so she wasn't surprised when they broke for solo patrols of the quadrants. Each would scout out their area then return to the campsite to compare notes and maps and update any information.

Sakura rerolled her map and launched off the ancient tree limb. Standard Konoha mission operatives still applied: They were not to engage unless provoked. But it was so peaceful and idyllic here it almost lulled her into a false sense of safety. Almost.

She could hear Kakashi's voice in her head: Treat every shadow as a threat and every limb as a trap. Expect the unexpected.

So, as much as it felt nice to stretch her legs leaping from limb to limb, letting the warm breeze stream through her hair, she stayed on alert. She listened beyond the bird song for the telltale snapping of twigs. She smelled beyond the clean woodland air for the earthy musk of sweat. And she watched for the glint of weapons in the farthest trees.

Sakura went through the long afternoon without any disturbance. She kept going, watching the light and her positions, lining up landmarks with the map to see where she needed to turn. She hadn't even come across anomalies to update.

It was quiet, the sun was sliding down in the sky and turning the forest light golden. Birds chirped around her and the evening air was pleasant. Anyone visiting would never believe that there were reports of attacks in these treetops—

A twig snapped nearby. The birdsong stopped.

Sakura's eyes widened, her stomach muscles bunched, the adrenaline rushed…. She wasn't alone.

Noiselessly, she stopped on the next branch and swung her gaze around to get her bearings.

The leaves shivered softly in the line of trees behind her, not quite in time with the rest of the canopy. Dust motes sparkled in the slanting sunlight.

Someone was there. Waiting her out….

In a single fluid jump, Sakura pushed straight up to the limb above her, using her chakra to cover her movement and soften her landing. She crouched and watched. An untrained assailant would rush off the branch, thinking she was running, and expose himself. But no one lunged out from behind the far trees.

Sakura held her breath and listened hard. In the stillness there was a whisper of fabric, the slightest groan of a limb under shifting weight….

Sakura's mouth curved up into a smile.

_A shinobi._

Now she knew how to proceed.

She readied to lunge, letting the chakra coil warm and tight in her calves. _She'd_ become the untrained nin, the prey hurtling wildly through the woods in fear. She'd be the rabbit…and then she'd run the predator right into her trap.

Sakura was off the branch like a shot.

She clambered through the canopy, bouncing limbs and shuddering branches. She zig-zagged in fake desperation, making as much noise as possible.

Finally she leapt long, providing her enough time for a backwards glance. And there he was. Blurring through the trees behind her.

Sakura smirked. Seeing her run wildly lowered his expectations. He'd never know what hit him.

Sakura launched again, breathing into the burn in her lungs and letting it fuel that zing of power she'd come to rely on in situations like this. The one that told her that being a Konoha shinobi was exactly what she was meant to be. Whether demolishing whole sparring fields with her fist or luring an enemy shinobi into a trap. This was what she was best at.

She bit down on her lip to steady her focus and keep herself from grinning and began scanning for the right set up. She needed a large tree, big enough to block the view from the other side, followed by smaller one.

She found it. Hurtling past the gnarled trunk of an ancient tree she came to a stop on the spindly tree beyond it.

Panting loudly, Sakura clamped a hand on her waist and played the part of a startled nin, run to exhaustion. But her eyes stayed focused on the edges of the large tree trunk as she gasped.

She had given her target an excellent place to hide. Now she just had to wait for him to take the bait—

Leaves jittered unnaturally nearby.

Sakura brought her free hand to her heaving chest. But it was covering the movement of her other hand which was quietly slipping around to a spate of shuriken at the small of her back.

Dust motes sparkled in the air beside the tree.

_She had him!_

Sakura pivoted, flinging the shuriken in a wide arc at the line of trees. The stars flew like they were on fire, gleaming and deadly, and whizzed behind the large tree in a curved trajectory that sent them perilously close to the trunk.

The nin on the other side had to have flattened himself against the trunk to keep from being hit. Stars flew out the either side and bit into the smaller trees to the left and right.

Sakura clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. She hadn't hit him, but at least now he was scared.

He knew that one wrong move and he'd get a nose or a finger sheered off.

Sakura plucked two kunai from her thigh holster and fanned them in her hand.

"Now, step out slowly." Her voice was hard. She let the kunai clang together menacingly. "Unless you want to lose an appendage. And I'm not choosy about which I take…."

This was the moment of decision. Either he came out fighting or she spiked him in the back as he ran.

A shuriken embedded beside the large tree gave her a secret view of the nin.

Sakura watched the mirrored surface. The black-clad body reflected there began to move, then stopped.

Sakura decided he was going to strike instead of retreat. She hunkered down, threw one kunai to her open hand, and was ready to pounce

Suddenly, a flash of color moved across the silver weapon, a streak of pink skin followed by a burst of yellow. A face blurred across next. And then a mouth. A wide grin slowly spread to fill the star shape, and a low chuckle carried through the air.

_Was someone laughing at her?_ _Was this a sick joke? _

But where Sakura should have been blisteringly mad, she was…confused. Something about that laugh, those colors…. It was all so strangely familiar….

And then it hit her. Her breath hitched and her grip loosened just as a voice rumbled through the air—

"_Sakura-chan…."_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes<strong>

This chapter shaped up differently, so the reunion got bumped to next chapter. But it will work out better in the end plot-wise (got some development in here that is necessary for later on). Tried to give Kakashi a little development, by letting him right the wrongs of his youth and early Team 7 days by taking an active interest in Sakura. And tried to give Sakura all the benefit of that attention by making her enjoy her self-confidence! Anyway, next chapter…reunion! Promise! :) Please read and review!


	8. Reunion

**Chapter 8 - Reunion**

* * *

><p><em>From Chapter 7:<em>

_But where Sakura should have been blisteringly mad, she was…confused. Something about that laugh, those colors…. It was all so strangely familiar…. _

_And then it hit her. Her breath hitched and her grip loosened just as a voice rumbled through the air—_

"_Sakura-chan…."_

* * *

><p>She knew, before he'd even stepped out, she knew who it was. And she knew he was smiling. She was as certain of it as she was of her own face in the mirror. It had been almost three years, but she could still hear the smile in his voice.<p>

The betrayal of her senses sparked up frustrating feelings inside. She was nervous and angry at the same time. And beneath it all was the unbendable truth that she really did want to see him.

A black foot edge out first, then a black pant leg along with a raised hand, palm open and compliant. It was higher up on the tree than she'd expected.

_He's taller. Much taller…._

Every muscle Sakura had tensed. She bit her lip, tightened her now-sweaty grip around the kunai and watched as the rest of him slowly stepped out.

Naruto stood in front of her, grinning. His eyes were bluer than she remembered, clear and fixed on her in a way that made her face burn. His hair was yellow and windblown and as unapologetically messy as it had been in their youth.

But there was not much more of the boy in him now.

The Naruto that stood before her was a grown man. Tall — at least, taller than she was — with square shoulders and the same lean, lithe physique as the most of the shinobis in her village. Which meant he was deceptively powerful.

His hands were large and square. Or perhaps they just looked big because he still standing with his palms open. Grinning even wider now.

Sakura shook off the temptation to smile back, and squeezed her weapons — her grip had frustratingly gone slack again in her distraction. She leveled a hard look at him. But he didn't even seem to notice.

"I thought it was you," he said warmly. His voice had taken on a depth and timbre that was not there in their youth. Sakura focused on ignoring it. "I was afraid you were going to kill me," he said, smiling, but there was a hint of something rascally in his eyes.

Sakura knew he was never afraid at all.

She tightened her grip, _again_. "What's your business out here," she said firmly.

Still smiling, he shrugged. "No business, just training."

His skin, though pale, had a bloom of sunburn that spoke of hours in the sun. It made him look as flushed as she felt.

"A-Are you alone," she said, peering into the canopy and feeling foolish for only just now thinking of it. "Where is…is…." She discovered she couldn't say his name, his betrayal burned more deeply into her mind. "The _other one_."

Naruto laughed, deeply.

It was surprisingly pleasant, and she had to fight to keep down memories of him, of _them_.

"Eh, he's around here somewhere. I gave him the slip a while ago. Then I saw you…."

Naruto dragged his gaze up her body, going slowly from her toes to her head. Sakura felt the tops of her ears go pink.

"You've gotten really…um…strong," he said. For one moment, there was a warmth in his gaze that stole her breath. But it was lost when he nodded to her weapons. "You would have nailed me for sure."

She looked at her hands, to where her two kunai stuck out at odd angles from her loose fingers, and came to her senses. _How had she forgotten them?_ But they seemed pointless now. Flustered, she jammed them back in her bag where they clinked softly in the bottom.

"How have you been? I bet a lot has changed…."

But she ignored the questions. Sakura cleared her throat. "I guess…. Uh…. I guess I should let everyone else know…." she said, just because she didn't know what else to say.

"Who are you with now?"

He smiled and looked around the woods, but when his eyes dipped back to hers and he repeated the question, there was a flicker of emotion that wasn't there before.

"So…. What team are you on?"

Sakura watched him closely. She saw it again. A tightness at the corner of his eyes, or the way his careless smile looked a little forced.

_It's not an innocent question,_ Sakura told herself, clinging to the suspicion that was helping to clear her mind.

Deep within her memories were slowly resurrecting. _Naruto covering his pain…. Naruto smiling through grief…. Naruto watching Sasuke with that desperate hunger, that consuming rivalry, that unquenchable need…._

She remembered it all. And she remembered that as a child, she had known him nearly as well as she'd known herself. Doubt and time and heartache had caused her to forget. But it was still there. Traces of that boy she once knew still lingered in this man's face.

The way he held his mouth, just so, as if holding something back. The way he looked at her, eyes bright and smiling…and searching….

Sakura breathed deeply, finally feeling more like herself again.

She squared her shoulders as if to deliver a blow. Her green eyes sparked and her mouth curved up. "Oh…didn't you know? I'm still on Team 7."

But the smug satisfaction she expected never came. He didn't gasp or curse or act as if he was even surprised.

Instead, he looked away, face shuttering. "Huh…."

He propped his hands on his hips and forced a laugh. "Who'd they replace us with? Probably someone better than us?" But when he looked back, his smile was brittle. His eyelids were lowered, shielding some secret pain.

"So Sakura-chan…. Who took my place?"

Hearing his familiar pet name for her sent an unexpected pang through her chest, but she slowly narrowed her eyes. She knew what she was looking at. She'd seen it a thousand times when they were kids.

_He was jealous._

Sudden fury churned up her insides. How dare he…. How _dare_ he! _He_ was the one who left! He had no right to care. _He had no right to feel anything!_

Sakura could practically feel that childish need to be accepted behind his smiling mask. Her hands balled at her sides. She wanted to knock that smile off his face!

"You idiot," she said, voice low and dangerous. "There is no one else. It's just me. And Kakashi. _We_ are Team 7."

It had the same effect as a punch. His face went slack. He shook his head in confusion.

"I…I don't understand…."

But Sakura held no sympathy for him. In fact, seeing she'd wounded him somehow, she wanted to drive the knife in a little further.

"What is there to understand?" She flung her arms out wide. "Did you think the world would collapse after you left? Well it didn't. Team 7 went on. Without you. Your spots were never filled."

Naruto stepped forward, raising his hand earnestly to his chest.

"You mean, you're by yourself? On missions and…and out here?" He glanced around the empty woods. "You're alone? There's no others? No…team?" Sakura raised an eyebrow, shaking her head at the ridiculousness of it all, not bothering to correct him just yet.

Naruto's eyes were soft with regret. "I never knew…. I mean, I-I didn't think that…." He clutched the shirt at his chest in a movement Sakura wished she didn't remember so easily from their childhood. That picture of a desperately apologetic boy was distorting the untrustworthy _man_ in front of her. "You've got to believe that I never meant to—"

"Idiot," hissed another sickeningly familiar voice.

Naruto whipped around as Sasuke fluidly stepped out from behind the large tree trunk. His hands were already clasped for the teleportation justsu, his mouth already silently moving with the commands. Heatless flames began licking up in a circle around them.

He shot Naruto a scathing look, full with the promise of reprecussions.

Naruto must not have cared. He turned back to Sakura, an unspoken apology still written on his face. But the flames were too high for him to move.

Beyond his shoulder, Sasuke's black eyes bore down on her. They held no greeting, no trace of a fond reunion. Instead he watched her, silently threatening. Even as the blaze engulfed them, his eyes never left her face.

The flames rose higher, turned to leaves, then to nothing at all.

And suddenly, Sakura was alone in the empty forest.

* * *

><p>"What the hell'd you do that for?"<p>

"I could ask you the same thing!"

Naruto stormed around the dripping underground room like a caged animal, kicking at the wall occasionally

Sasuke folded his arms and watched him pace. His own anger was quickly cooling. Watching Naruto spool up was helping.

"You're such an idiot sometimes," Sasuke drawled as if speaking to a child.

"All I wanted to do was talk to her. What's wrong with that?"

"You know exactly what's wrong." Naruto rolled his eyes, but Sasuke pushed on, voice hard. "They will hunt us down and drag us back to Konoha. And this," Sasuke raised his hands, "will be replaced with a jail cell."

Naruto scowled and kept pacing the perimeter. "That's only because you nailed the headbands to the tree," he grumbled.

"It had to be done. They had to know we were serious. Otherwise they would have never stopped."

"I told you not to! I told you it was too much! We could have outrun them!"

Sasuke shot him a withering look. "It doesn't matter now. Anyone from Konoha would drag us back. They wouldn't understand. They would stifle our growth, tell us more lies—"

Naruto wheeled around and yelled into Sasuke's face, "_She_ isn't just 'anyone!'"

Sasuke snapped, "_She_ is the most dangerous of all!"

Nearly nose to nose, Naruto glared at Sasuke. Sasuke glared back, face pale with anger, but when he spoke his words were clipped and controlled.

"We cannot _see_ them. We cannot _be seen_ by them." His breath shivered the hair that had fallen over Naruto's brow. "And you know this."

After a long moment Naruto tore away with a growl and returned to stalking around the room.

"Sakura will tell Kakashi," Sasuke continued, watching him. "And Kakashi will use his dogs. He will alert every other shinobi he can get a hold of to track us down. And then we will be chased from hideout to hideout and—"

"I know! All I wanted to do was talk to her—" Naruto snapped, waving off Sasuke's barrage of reasoning. He stopped pacing. "She said she is still on Team 7. But now…. Now, she's alone—"

Sasuke looked at Naruto as if he was stupid. "A lie, obviously. She'd say anything to get you to come back with her. She's under orders, just like the rest of them."

Naruto glared at Sasuke but couldn't argue with him, and Sasuke knew it. He folded his arms and waited patiently for Naruto to admit he was right. Instead Naruto shouldered past him, threw the door open and stomped off down the hall toward the training rooms.

Sasuke smirked at the empty doorway. Even though he did frustrating things at times, Naruto's predictable temper was one of the things Sasuke had grown to appreciate over the years, in a way he could not have when they were kids in Konoha. Sasuke knew that he was hot-headed, but he'd eventually cool down and defer to better judgement. He always did. And understanding Naruto so well is what made them excellent teammates.

Naruto's loyalty was no surprise. But it had to end there, or it would put them both in danger. And Naruto knew that. Whether he'd admit it or not.

And because they were so perfectly suited as teammates, Sasuke knew what Naruto needed now — an outlet for his pent up anger. He passed through the doorway and turned to follow him to the training rooms. A little sparring would do both of them good.

* * *

><p>"Everything was clear. No trouble," Sakura said when she rendezvoused with Team 8 hours later. Her face was blank, her voice stripped of emotion. "I did not encounter anyone."<p>

Kiba nodded and they all turned to the map he had unfurled in the light of the fire. Sakura heard him discuss the next day's assignments, saw his finger move slowly along the dashed lines of territories. But she was numb to it. Sakura heard her name and she nodded automatically. Kiba pointed to a quadrant, spoke a few words about the next day's assignment and she nodded again. Then it was finished. He rerolled the map and they all sat back to enjoy the fire.

If they noticed she was quieter, more preoccupied than usual, then no one mentioned it.

Sakura stared at the fire, replaying the encounter in her mind, over and over again, until the dancing yellow flames blurred themselves into the tips of _his_ hair and she couldn't bear to look at it anymore.

She leaned back and stared up at the stars, but they gave her no comfort.

There was no reason to rush home and tell Kakashi. In fact, there was no reason to tell anyone about it. _They_ were long gone. It was just a fluke.

Sakura finished the rest of her mission in detached silence, the model of an effective Konoha shinobi.

But as soon as she passed through the gates and waved farewell to Team 8, she immediately canvassed Konoha's streets searching for Kakashi.

She found him sitting on a bench outside the Hokage's tower, leaning against a sun-warmed wall, reading his book.

Seeing her in front of him, hard-eyed and breathless, he folded his book over his crossed knee and tipped his head up at her in concern.

Sakura paused to gather her thoughts, unsure of where to start, but then the words came tumbling out, like water through a dam.

"I saw him. On my mission with Team 8. I saw him. Naruto. And Sasuke too, but only at the end." She gulped a breath. "But I saw him. Spoke to him."

She exhaled, feeling like a weight had lifted. Kakashi breathed with her, silently understanding. He patted the empty bench beside him.

"How long ago," he asked.

She sat on her fingers to keep them still. After keeping her emotions boxed up for days, she found she was overflowing with nervous energy.

"Six days," she said, not having to count. She knew exactly how long it had been.

But saying it aloud made her suddenly doubt her reasoning.

"I-I didn't contact Konoha, though," she said, peeking up once at Kakashi. "They disappeared in a teleportation jutsu. No trace. There was nothing to search for…so I continued on with my mission."

Kakashi nodded sagely. "As you should've. There was nothing else to be done." He recrossed his legs, shifting his book to his other knee, and leaned toward her. "So tell me Sakura, how do my old students fare?"

He smiled encouragingly, and Sakura knew he was trying to put her at ease.

She took a breath and laid her hands in her lap and shook out the tightness that had crept into her shoulders.

"I saw Naruto first. He tracked me, claiming he was out on a training mission. Then Sasuke came for him. Used a standard Leaf jutsu, then they were gone."

"When?"

Sakura met Kakashi's eyes, grasping the subtext of his question. Every detail held a clue. "In the middle of the day. They were both pale, like they were not in the sun a lot. But Naruto looked like he might have been sunburned." She darted her eyes away at the memory of his pink cheeks and ignored the heat coming back to hers.

"They looked well fed, clothed." She remembered the Stone country nukenin she had seen creeping through the night forest like a scared, half-starved animal. Naruto and Sasuke looked like they just belonged to another village. "No headbands. Naruto wore all black fatigues, like standard issue Konoha ones. He had a weapons pouch and a thigh holster, just like he did here—"

"And Sasuke?"

"From what I could see he wore a traditional Uchiha kimono shirt, black pants. No kunai, but a long sword handle at his waist."

Kakashi nodded.

"Sasuke was the same," she sighed. "Just the same. Older, I'm sure more powerful. But he looked just the same. Like I wasn't even worth his time." She closed her eyes, hating him.

Kakashi was silent for moment. "And what of Naruto? How had he changed?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh he's the same too."

Kakashi studied her face, not missing the shift in her demeanor. "How do you mean?"

"He was smiling and asking about…well, not really about anything." She laced and relaced her fingers together in her lap. "But he wanted to know what team I was on, and when I told him I wasn't, then he wanted to know who replaced him! Like it bothered him or something! As if he should care!" She cut her eyes away in frustration.

"Ah yes," Kakashi said after a moment. "That sounds like Naruto. Always concerned about the little things." He ignored Sakura's loud scoff. "He loved Konoha and Team 7 and ramen and…."

Kakashi suddenly narrowed his eyes. "And what did he think of you, Sakura?"

Sakura looked caught. The faintest blush lit her cheeks. Even if she never spoke, Kakashi would have had his answer.

But at length she said, quietly, "He said I looked stronger." She picked at her fingernails then shrugged, looking like she'd really rather drop the subject.

"Perhaps you're right," Kakashi said, hiding a smile. "Sounds like he hasn't changed much at all—"

Sakura cut a sharp look up at him.

"I know what you're thinking." She pointed at him then tapped the still-open book on his knee. "And it's not like one of your silly books, either."

"I didn't say anything," he said, grinning now.

"You didn't have to," she grumbled, even as the corners of her mouth twitched up. "But it's not like that," she added, turning serious. "He's not the same. No matter what he says or how he acts. He gone. He's with Orochimaru," she added quietly, "and Sasuke."

Kakashi sobered too. "You're exactly right. But it's good to know he's still the same. He's not hardened or spiteful."

She nodded and sighed. "Yeah, I suppose that's one good thing. But it doesn't amount to much. He's still gone."

"Well, one step at a time," he breathed. "Remember 'A journey of a thousand miles—'"

"I know," Sakura cut him off with a grin, "'begins with a single step!' How could I forget?!"

Laughing, she rose and turned to leave, but Kakashi stopped her. "Sakura, please don't tell anyone about seeing him. This time…or if you see him again. Only notify me—

She gaped at him, incredulous. "What makes you think I'm going to see him again?"

Kakashi shrugged nonchalantly, opened his book with his thumb and leaned back against the wall. "Oh no reason," he drawled, pulling the novel over his face. It didn't hide the crinkle at the corner of his eyes or the smile in his voice. "You know, just in case you do."

Sakura rolled her eyes.

She laughed breathily and strode away, muttering about "ridiculous romance novels" under her breath as she left.

But she would come to discover just how right Kakashi was….

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

Surprise! Updating all three stories in a month...whew! Took some dedicated writing days, but I got it done. Thanks for hanging in there with me! Hope you liked their little reunion...and maybe Kakashi's on to something with those romance novels of his! Thanks so much for the reviews and pms, faves and alerts. Check the website for preview and as always, please read and review!


	9. The Green Butterfly

**9 - The Green Butterfly**

The behemoth swung at Naruto's face, but Naruto ducked away easily, leaving his opponent snarling with rage. His skin was turning purple, his face was covered in jagged black lines, and his eyes were bulging and yellow.

Naruto smiled to himself as he easily sidestepped another massive blow. _These guys are getting uglier all the time. _

He wondered where Kabuto found them all, but there wasn't much time to dwell on it. He had an objective in this spar, and a time to beat.

This opponent was more than twice Naruto's size. Pinned to the back of his collar was a red flag, and in Naruto's pocket was a green one. Training for stealth, Naruto's object was to snatch the red flag and swap it for the green, without the massive guy noticing. It was a good shinobi skill for plucking weapons off opponents, setting paper bombs, or even lifting keys off an unsuspecting shopkeeper should the need arise.

It was a bit of a dance, distracting the huge man and trying to swing around behind him. But his stealth skills were improving. After all, he was able to sneak up on Sakura….

Pink hair and green eyes filled up his vision, even as the man in front of him swung again. Without thinking about his movements, Naruto's body reacted on its own. He dodged where the man swung and pivoted where the man stepped. His mind was more happily occupied.

He couldn't stop thinking about Sakura. He wondered about her, his mind drifting back to their short conversation, replaying it over and over, no matter what he was doing. He was always thinking of things he wished he'd asked her about. Like how were all the other rookies. And what had changed in Konoha. And if the little ramen stand he liked was still there. But mostly, he wanted to know about her….

Naruto saw his opening and pushed off the side wall, pitching himself up and over his opponent's ugly hunched back. His fingers caught the red flag and swapped it with the green with ease. He let the force of the arc pull his body back to the ground on the other side.

Objective met, his mind drifted back to Sakura. But like an ever-present shadow, the uncomfortable idea of just her and Kakashi as part of a broken Team 7 was never far behind. That's never how he thought it would be.

He hit the ground in a perfect crouch, estimating his landing perfectly. Congratulating himself as he stood, his mind automatically slipped back to something Sakura had said….

Of course, he wanted to leave with Sasuke, but that didn't mean he'd _abandoned_ her. She was just mistaken. That's not what happened at all—

Pain exploded across the top of Naruto's arm and the hot breath of his opponent scalded his neck. He'd landed closer to the behemoth than he thought. He caught a glimpse of a raised hand over his back, the grotesquely sharp nails coming in for another slash, and Naruto dove for the door.

He slid through just in time, nearly colliding with Sasuke, Kabuto and a handful of attendants, one of whom slammed behind him before the snarling monster could get another swipe. He stood, staunching the blood with the red flag, and ignored Sasuke's hard look.

"What were you doing out there? _Daydreaming?_ You _never_ leave your back open like that!"

Naruto ignored him. He peeled back the wet fabric to see three long gashes across his arm, bleeding profusely. He cursed under his breath.

Kabuto pulled his hand away to inspect it. "We'll have to watch this," he said quietly. "This is deep enough you've probably been infected by the curse mark."

Naruto looked back at him. "The wha—? A curse mark? Is that what's wrong with all these guys? Are they sick or something?"

Kabuto smiled silkily as he bandaged it. "No, not quite. They're stronger. I've created something that lets them draw on their natural abilities. Heightens it. You really should try it out, Naruto-kun—"

Naruto shied away from him. "You don't mean I'm gonna get it?!"

Kabuto pressed his fingers along the torn edges of the wound. "Do you feel any pain? Numbness?"

Naruto shook his head. "Feels warm around it, but that's it. Doesn't hurt any more."

Kabuto shined a pen light into Naruto's eyes, but they were normal and blue. Naruto tried to pull away, but Kabuto gripped his chin tightly. He dug his thumb into a pressure point on Naruto's jaw, and when he opened his mouth to say "Ow!" Kabuto shined his light inside. He ran his finger over his teeth where fangs sometimes pointed out. But they were smooth.

"Huh," Kabuto said, for the first time looking surprised. Naruto wrenched his head backwards out of Kabuto's grasp.

"Huh, what?" he snapped, jerking his torn shirt over the bandage.

Kabuto shook his head once, as if clearing himself from a daze. "No it's just…. Well, I haven't ever…. It seems that you're not infected."

He swiveled back around to Naruto's arm to inspect the cut. Naruto tried to clamp his hand down and keep Kabuto from looking again, but Kabuto batted his hand away. He pulled the bandage back and Naruto winced in pain. But Kabuto didn't care. He poked and prodded it, inspecting the torn skin and swabbing out some of the dried blood. He smoothed his fingers over Naruto's skin around the wound, but it was all pink. No sign of angry purple flesh or the black marks that covered most of his opponents.

Satisfied, Kabuto reapplied the bandage and stepped back, pleasantly surprised.

Naruto jerked up the sleeve again. "Well," he grumbled, "can I go?"

Kabuto nodded, as if not really hearing him. He bent to his clipboard and began writing feverishly. Naruto scowled at Sasuke, who just shrugged, and they moved to leave. At the turn of the hallway however, Naruto heard Kabuto's voice.

"Naruto-kun, I want to check that wound again. In a few days. Just to make sure it hasn't spread."

Naruto grunted, but he kept going.

"What the hell has been going on with you lately," Sasuke said as they walked. Naruto wouldn't tell him the truth, of course. He cut his eyes to the side, casting around for something else to blame it, when a cell door swung open in front of them.

Two men came out, pushing a stretcher with a white sheet mounded up in the middle like a pile of snow. Only it was covering a huge disfigured body. Naruto and Sasuke stopped and watched. The men never looked up, just quietly pushed the gurney down the corridor to another one of Kabuto's labs.

The previous conversation between them was forgotten.

"What the hell do you think that was," Naruto said, feeling suddenly sick. He nervously picked at the bandage on his shoulder. "The curse mark?"

Sasuke angled his gaze away and stayed quiet.

* * *

><p>A week later, Kabuto heard a knock at his lab door and put down his pen. "Enter."<p>

Sasuke walked proudly through the door, followed by a skeptical Naruto. Kabuto resisted the urge to smirk.

Sasuke gave him a cool look. "You summoned us?"

Kabuto had never commanded the respect Sasuke gave to Orochimaru. But Kabuto ignored the slight. He knew how to get what he needed. And for that reason he was indispensable to Orochimaru. No matter how his master doted on Sasuke, the boy would only ever be a vessel, a tool to be used. Just like Naruto….

"Today I am going to teach you to detect someone's chakra from a distance." Kabuto waved his hand at the table and stools and they took a seat.

Naruto, suspicious as ever, twisted his face up at him. "What would we need to learn that for?

"Touching someone imprints your chakra," Kabuto continued, "_if_ you know how to do it. There are opportunities to pick up someone's 'information,' be it a jutsu or physical documents or someone's chakra code. The secret is knowing when to take them."

Kabuto pulled his ringed notebook out of his pocket and tapped it against his hand. It was his most prized possession. "This contains information on every shinobi I've ever encountered. All through touch and stealth."

He pushed his glasses back up his nose and stared down at Naruto. "Don't ever let someone slip out of your grasp without getting the information you need." He dropped the book safely back into his pocket.

"Now turn to face one another."

Kabuto taught them a series of jutsus, then told them to close their eyes and concentrate on the person in front of them, the one they see in their mind. Then he paced around them, observing their progress.

"Orochimaru-sama and I put traces on you both within minutes of their arrival," he said with a whiff of pride. "And now, your chakra is so familiar, it's nearly effortless to detect."

Naruto's head raised and he cracked an eye open to peek at Sasuke. Kabuto whacked him on the back of the head and kept walking.

"But like a fragrance it fades over time," he continued. "And you cannot maintain a whole army full of subjects. Only a few…. Only the most _important_ people," Kabuto said, looking directly at Sasuke, who had opened his eyes to watch him with that penetrating gaze that Orochimaru prized so.

"Can you use it to teleport," Sasuke asked, mind jumping ahead just as Kabuto would expect of him.

Crossing behind him, Kabuto hitched his shoulder. "If you are close enough, maybe. But you would have to be exceptionally powerful—"

"Oy, like a flash-step." Naruto said, opening his eyes again, unable to resist joining in.

Kabuto smirked. "Don't get your hopes up, Naruto-kun," he said patronizingly.

Naruto frowned and folded his arms over his chest. "Yeah, well I still don't get the whole 'seeing somebody else' part. All I see are the back of my eyelids." Sasuke was silent, but he didn't disagree.

"Hmmm…. Strange," Kabuto said, hiding a smile. He circled back around to Naruto. "Perhaps it would work better if you try it from a distance." He dropped his hand onto Naruto's shoulder before he had a chance to stand. "Sasuke, why don't you go to your quarters and see if you can find him. Naruto, you stay right here."

Naruto cut his eyes back but Kabuto said innocently, "I want to measure your heart rate while he searches."

Sasuke nodded and left, so Naruto slumped back onto the seat.

Kabuto raised a stethoscope to Naruto's back. "Now, close your eyes, breath deeply and focus on locating Sasuke's chakra in the compound."

Naruto did as he was told.

Kabuto slid the stethoscope up to his collar, then pressed it down on the side of his neck. Naruto was still talking, searching. "Oh, I think I found him…. No, that's not him…."

"Keep looking Naruto-kun. You can find him. Concentrate harder."

Kabuto pushed the stethoscope down on a blue vein on his neck, but he jerked the headpiece away from his ears and let it hang around his neck. Still holding the disc on the vein, Kabuto reached with his other hand over to a tray beside him and retrieved a prepared syringe. He quietly flipped off the cap.

"You're doing great Naruto-kun. Keep going. Search for a color maybe. Blue like his chidori. Or red for the sharingan."

"Oh yeah, that's good," Naruto said emphatically. "I'll find him for sure."

Kabuto nodded. "Hang on— I just want to find your pulse."

Kabuto removed the stethoscope and pushed the tips of his fingers down onto the now plump vein.

_It wasn't elegant but it would have to do._

Kabuto smirked down at Naruto, who was so consumed with finding Sasuke that he never even noticed the pulses of numbing chakra that Kabuto sent into his skin.

"Great job Naruto-kun. Keep it up…."

Kabuto replaced the stethoscope at his neck. With his other hand, he brought up the needle and stabbed the vein, hiding it behind the stethoscope. He drew back, pulling out a line of precious red blood from Naruto's neck.

Kabuto's glasses flashed. He congratulated himself on this bit of trickery. Naruto would never have submitted had he known. And it was imperative he get a sample. This might be his only chance—

"Hey— _HEY! _What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto clamped a hand down on his neck and Kabuto whipped away, stethoscope swinging wildly. In one smooth move, Kabuto plunged the contents of the syringe in a vial and dropped it into his pocket, then flicked the used syringe into the trash.

Naruto wheeled around. "What were you doing!?"

Kabuto turned back to Naruto with a cool expression. He realized the numbing chakra had worn off too soon. But now Naruto was pissed. "Now, now, Naruto-kun—"

Naruto lunged off the chair at Kabuto, catching him up by the throat with one hand and shoving him against the wall. He rubbed the sore spot on his neck with his other hand.

"What were you doing to me," he roared into Kabuto's face. "I felt something at my neck! You weren't listening to my heart— _What were you doing?!_"

At that moment, Sasuke threw open the door looking pleasantly surprised. "Wow, Naruto, whatever you did, it worked! Suddenly your chakra just lit up like a torch—"

Naruto didn't turn. Instead he shook Kabuto against the wall, but Kabuto only flashed his sphinx-like smile. "I don't know what you're talking about a Naruto-kun. I was just checking your heart rate."

Naruto let go and scanned the table and the room. Off to the side there was a tray full of vials and test-tubes. Beside it there was an empty white napkin and a lone cap without its syringe.

"You were doing something. I felt it," he said, still rubbing his neck.

Kabuto straightened his shirt and pushed up his glasses. "You know, Naruto-kun, you should really learn to control your temper."

Naruto growled and shoved the table, knocking its contents to the ground in an explosion of shattering glass and clattering trays, then he stormed out.

Sasuke followed him and Kabuto was left to stand alone in the lab, the wreckage of a day's work at his feet.

But a slow smile was curving up his face.

An attendant crept in and began gingerly picking up the pieces. But Kabuto only laughed.

He opened his hand to reveal a syringe full of ruby red liquid.

"Leave it," he said to the attendant. Then he tipped the vial, swirling the blood to admire it in the light. "None of that matters to me now."

* * *

><p>Sasuke followed Naruto into their bed chamber.<p>

"What the hell was that all about?"

Naruto was peering at his reflection in his kunai, looking for a wound he could feel but not see.

"He did something— _Poked me_ with something while I was trying to find your chakra!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Is that all?" Naruto rubbed his neck hard. Sasuke sank back on his pallet in frustration. "If he did anything it will probably enhance your skills. I've been telling you if you'd just let him give you some of the meds you'd be as strong as—"

"You," Naruto growled viciously. "Just go ahead and say it."

Sasuke stood, mouth pinched in anger. "No. I was going to say as strong as some of the new opponents they've brought in for us. They're huge. Bigger than I've ever seen. You can't just take them down on your own—"

"I can and I will! I don't need this stuff to make me stronger. Only training and hard work!"

Sasuke laughed scornfully. "Yeah well guys like Itachi aren't going to wait for you to get stronger—"

Naruto shoved past him, knocking his shoulder, and went out the door.

"Stop being so childish and get on the meds," Sasuke shouted down the corridor after him. But Naruto didn't stop.

He went through the tunnels, not even sure where he was going. Anger churned up within him…at Kabuto, for pushing this on him, at Orochimaru for orchestrating all of it, and even at Sasuke for going along with them.

He ran his hands through his hair. He just wanted to get out, somewhere he could think and get some fresh air….

He ran down a few more tunnels till he came to it, the crack of light that he knew was the opening. He clambered up the steep, wet steps, and in a few short minutes he emerged form the vine-covered portal. Alone. He breathed deeply, feeling sweet relief at just being outside.

He launched to the canopy and leapt away, putting some distance between himself and the hideout before he stopped and looked around. He breathed in the clean air and soaked up the dappled sun on his skin.

Even though it felt good, he was still pissed. Sasuke's pressuring and Kabuto's conniving. He rubbed his neck again. And he didn't want to think about what that sick jerk had infected him with.

He turned back, expecting to see Sasuke's figure darting up behind him. But no one came. Good, he thought petulantly. He really didn't want to see any of them right now.

Instead he turned and looked ahead. The green lights and golden shadows of the tree canopy spread out ahead of him. It was so simple, so easy, as if being surrounded by all that green he could feel it pulling him…away from the forest…. The leaves grew soft in his focus and he saw her green eyes dancing in front of him. The sun warmed his face and he heard her laughter in his ears.

He drew in a breath, closed his eyes, and let the emotion pull him….

Memories surfaced and time fell away…and out of the darkness a green light slowly flickered to life. It danced just beyond his reach, like a butterfly. This was _her_ chakra, alive and vibrant, moving just beyond his reach. It stopped, hovered, then moved again.

Naruto watched it through the darkness, focused on it as if looking through binoculars. She was moving, walking, he could tell that. The butterfly light was flitting in a direction, stopping and going in a pattern.

A smile broke across his face and he pulled back, the green chakra fading into the distance as the birdsong in his ear increased and the sun suddenly beat on his skin again. But the light didn't fade away. Not completely. It was out there, shining like starlight in the darkness.

He slowly opened his eyes and blinked at the green canopy. He'd done it. He'd found her. She must be important to him—

Well, he knew she was. But finding her so quickly, when he couldn't even locate Sasuke a few rooms over…. She must be more important that he realized. Or maybe it was a different kind of connection….

He breathed the fresh air, feeling like he'd just been with her. But it wasn't enough. He wanted more….

He glanced back. Still no one came.

Naruto smirked. They probably weren't even looking for him. And Kabuto made it clear his chakra wasn't as valuable to track as Sasuke's.

He was suddenly energized. Sakura's chakra hung like a fixed point in front of him. He was so certain of it, he knew he could flash-step there. He didn't know how he knew, but he did. He felt it in his bones.

There was nothing stopping him. He could go, see her and come back. No one would never know. No Sasuke clucking over him like a mother hen.

He'd just see her again, just one more time. Maybe he'd even speak to her. Maybe not.

He grinned. A devilish glint lit his eyes at the idea of thumbing his nose at authority and breaking some rules like he used to back in Konoha. The prospect of a challenge, trying something completely new and utterly his own was thrilling. And if it worked, he'd see Sakura again….

Naruto straightened, closed his eyes and focused on the green butterfly. Hands clasped, he drew his fingers up in front of his face and murmured the flash-step jutsu. Then he disappeared in a swirl of green leaves.

* * *

><p>In the middle of a rain-soaked forest, the empty ground between a stand of trees suddenly exploded upward with motion. Wet leaves whirled into the air. In the center, the jagged lines spun together to form a silhouette, then showered back to the ground. In their wake a figure was revealed.<p>

Naruto collapsed forward onto his hands and knees on the forest floor. He shut his eyes and dug his fingers into the dirt, trying not to vomit from the dizziness.

Traveling without a trajectory had left him him perilously disoriented. He'd just closed his eyes, taken a breath, focused on the green butterfly and concentrated all his thoughts on Sakura. Next thing he knew he was zooming through an unending darkness until his feet found the ground again.

He stood slowly, head still spinning. But it was lessening. He was in a mist-shrouded forest. Beyond the line of trees in a broad valley was a grey smudge of a town, surrounded by farms and shacks. He had no idea where he was. But it must have been far because there was a steady drizzle falling beyond the sheltering branches, and the forest he had left was sunny and clear.

He decided he must be at least one country away from their Sound territory hideout. It looked different, felt different—

He flared his nostrils, breathing in. _Smelled_ different.

Naruto took a wobbly step, then another, feeling better with each one. He wiped a hand down his face, deciding it was like the flash-step jutsu, but double the power. Or maybe even triple. And he didn't even know he could do it.

His face broke into a satisfied smile, deeply pleased that there were still some secrets Kabuto didn't have scribbled in his little book.

Somehow he knew he didn't get as far as the butterfly in his mind, but he was close. He closed his eyes and saw it hovering nearby, beyond the trees. He bet she was somewhere in that little ramshackle town.

He left the forest and walked into the drizzle, following a dirt road that led down to the cluster of buildings.

After scoping out the town — poor and dismal, with little to offer but the bare necessities — Naruto leaned into the dark shadow under an awning and waited. He closed his eyes to seek the butterfly again, but it was no help now. It just floated in the space in front of him, flitting here and there, but nothing to guide him.

So he waited and he watched.

It felt like he hadn't been there very long when a shop door swung open across from him. A wall of drawers and hanging herbs and red tassels was framed in warm yellow light, and the shopkeeper held open the door, wishing well their esteemed patron.

Sakura herself stepped into the doorway. Naruto straightened. She pulled up her hood, turned back to speak a few smiling words to the owner, then tucked her bag under her tan, standard issue Konoha cloak and left.

He didn't have time to check, but he bet that little green butterfly was on the move again, fluttering in a straight line away from him.

Naruto was giddy at this new skill. He couldn't believe it worked. He'd actually found her.

But now he had to decide what to do. Call to her, wave at her…. Was she alone? Would she be mad?

He realized he hadn't thought this through. So he just peeled himself off the wall and followed her, sticking to the shadows, hiding behind crates and the edge of buildings.

He followed her through several streets, watched her sidestep rain-filled potholes in the rutted road and nod to passersby. Then suddenly she turned. Up one lane and then the next, turning again and again onto narrower and dirtier lanes until finally she reached a dark alley. Crates were cluttered outside doors and the shabby awnings nearly touched in the middle so that the only path was through the muddy center gutter, under the steady stream of run-off.

She had splashed halfway down the dark road when Naruto skirted the corner and threw himself behind a stack of soaked boxes that reeked of over-ripe fruit. He couldn't imagine what she would be doing all the way down here, alone—

Suddenly the flat edge of a kunai bit into his throat and a fist shoved him backwards into the wall, pitching his face into deeper shadow.

"Who are you and what do you…want…."

He slid down the wall into the light, revealing a widening grin. Still gripping him tightly, Sakura's mouth formed a soundless 'O.' Her eyes went painfully wide. She jumped back is if he were on fire.

"Wha-What are you doing here?"

Naruto straightened, tugged down his fatigues and rubbed his hand sheepishly over the back of his neck.

"I just saw you and—"

"_You_ saw _me_?" Her voice bounced off the walls, sending creatures rustling to hide behind the abandoned crates and she dropped her voice. "I'm in the middle of nowhere!"

Run-off from the awning streamed down onto her hood, splattering onto the kunai she still had pointed out him, but she didn't move.

Her fierceness only made him grin brighter. He shoved his hands into his pockets, completely comfortable in her presence, even with a weapon pointing at him. "So are you alone out here?"

Sakura watched him, gauging him. She must have found him safe. She reholstered the kunai and stepped back a pace. "No! Of course not."

"Good," Naruto said quietly as he eased forward.

They stood mere feet apart, a curtain of drizzle separating them.

All the questions Naruto had been thinking about left him. At length Sakura broke the silence.

"Why are you here," she asked. There was still suspicion in her voice but her tone had softened.

"I just wanted to see how you are, what you were doing now. Are you on a mission?"

She looked as if she couldn't believe he had the nerve to ask her. But he waited for an answer.

She glanced sideways, debating internally, then slowly revealed the bag from inside her cloak. The one she'd left the shop with.

"I'm here as a medic. There has been a plague outbreak here. Just a few families on the outskirts of town. They needed an experienced healer, not just the town herbalist."

Naruto's face lit up. "C-Cool Sakura-chan! So you're a medic now too, as well as a shinobi! Amazing!"

She shrugged lightly, trying not to look flustered at the unexpected compliment.

"So are you here with other medics?"

"No, a shinobi team. We've quarantined the families for the last week. We think we've stopped the outbreak." She shook the bag. "These are herbs for them to continue treatment."

Naruto nodded. "So who are you out here with? Anyone I'd know? Kiba, Shino." He laughed to himself. "Lee…I wonder how he's doing—"

"Naruto?"

He looked at her wide green eyes, peering at him from under the cloak. "What exactly are _you_ doing here?"

Naruto blinked and angled his head at her. He didn't have a good answer.

"Are you here with your—" The word 'team' was on her lips, but stopped herself. Instead she spat the word, "_him_? Are you on some kind of mission? I don't even know where you live! Maybe you've defected to another village—"

Naruto smiled gently. No matter what Sasuke said, there was no reason not to at least tell her just a little bit. Set the record straight. "No, no other village. Sasuke and I are with Orochimaru now. So that's kind of like still being with the Leaf, right? Anyway, it's not forever. Sasuke has a goal and I'm helping him reach it—"

"Really," she snapped, anger rising. "So you're doing all of this for Sasuke." She glared at him. "And what are _you_ getting out of it?"

Naruto shrugged. It wasn't something he'd thought too much about. Sasuke needed him, and he went. It was pretty simple. But he could understand why she was angry. They didn't leave the way he would have liked—

"Why are you here Naruto?"

He looked at her for one long moment, considering her question, then edged forward. Splashes of rain water bounced off the front of his black fatigues.

He angled his head to get a better look at her. "Sakura," he said softly. "Pull back your hood."

She stared at him, incredulous. But he waited there for her, getting soaked, until she slowly lifted one hand and slid the hood back.

The corners of his mouth curled up.

Even though they were in a dim alley, he could see so much more of her than last time. When he wasn't so overcome by surprise.

Pink hair brushed her shoulders. It had grown longer since the last time he'd seen her. Her cheeks were slowly staining the same shade of pink. Her face was longer and more angled than the heart-shaped child's face he remembered. But her eyes….her eyes were still the same. As green as the trees, as green as that chakra butterfly that he knew was hovering directly in front of him.

Sakura fidgeted with the front of her cloak. She looked in turns suspicious, then uncertain, then suspicious again.

Naruto smiled warmly. "I just wanted to see you again. That's all."

She bit her lip. The tops of her cheeks went bright red. But she exploded "Well, fine then! Now you've seen me, so you can just…uh—"

Naruto laughed at her, so many memories suddenly resurfacing. She had always been like that when they were kids. Acting angry when really she flustered about something. Maybe she hadn't changed that much, after all….

He jumped across the gutter, through the sheet of rain and almost directly into her. She stepped back, narrowly missing crashing into the stack of crates behind her. But having no where else to go, she stopped. And so did he.

The sheltered space was just barely big enough for two. Sakura leaned back against the crates while water spattered down Naruto's back. But he didn't move. There were nearly toe to toe, but he didn't move.

Instead he smiled down at her. He was half-a-head taller now. That was a surprise.

She bit her lip and tilted her eyes up at him and he could tell she was thinking the same thing.

"I didn't mean to startle you," he said softly.

"You didn't," she said too quickly, looking like she didn't trust him.

"Before, in the alley."

Sakura dared a glance up into his eyes. The ghost of a smirk lit her face. "Oh, you mean when you were sneaking around every corner, hiding behind every box?"

He chuckled, teasing pink back into her cheeks. Good…this was good. He finally felt like he was gaining some ground with her. He didn't question why he needed to. He just wanted to be back in her good graces. And he knew, without a doubt, that one visit wouldn't be nearly enough.

Down the alley a door clapped shut. A man in an apron stepped out, lit a cigarette, then turned to see them standing there.

"Oy! What are you doing! You can't be back here!"

Sakura made a 'tch' noise at getting caught, but Naruto touched her shoulder and said over her. "It's okay old man, we were just leaving."

Sakura whipped her head back at him, just in time to see him raise two fingers to his lips. They were so close he could see himself reflected in her eyes. Leaves peeled up from the dark alley floor where there were none before and circled around him.

"No— Wait—"

As the leaves streaked over his chest he flashed her his most charming smile. "I'll see you again, okay Sakura-chan?"

Her green eyes sparked with an anger that only fueled more warm memories for him. Over her shoulder the old man's mouth hung open, his cigarette dangling precariously from his bottom lip.

And then he was gone, whizzing through the darkness toward the forest just outside the hideout. He thought hard about his destination, exactly the spot he wanted his feet to touch down, and was able to land confidently this time.

He felt the branch under his feet, the limb sinking slightly with his weight. The earthy tang of the forest filled his nostrils. Naruto opened his eyes. There wasn't a trace of rain in sight. And judging from the dipping sun, he'd only been gone about an hour. Not long enough for anyone to notice.

Completely proud of himself, Naruto hopped down from the limb and strode to the stone covered entrance. This had worked. And worked well. He knew, without a doubt, he would be seeing Sakura again. Soon.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

Thanks everyone for the reviews and faves. And thanks for hanging in there with NS! In this chapter we see Naruto intuitively learning the skills of his father. I think it would have been cool to have him tap into that legacy, instead of just the kyuubi. And yes, Kabuto's up to something. Sasuke's still the prize, but there's something very special about Naruto too. More NS goodness to come! Please read and review!


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